~EXCERPTS~
“If the Defense Ministry demand for an additional NIS 30 billion in 2007 to 2010 is accepted, Israel will return to the ‘Lost Decade,” - 1974-85 after the Yom Kippur War, when defense budgets dwarfed civil budgets and hyperinflation ran in triple digits, the official said yesterday.
“The government economist claims the demands are extravagant and would push Israel 20 to 30 years back economically, including a sharp drop in the standard of living.”
“The economist believes it is time for a civilian review of the tremendous defense spending in recent years, calling it inconceivable that with such large budgets, soldiers and reservists serving in Lebanon faced shortages of equipment, supplies, food and beverages.”
Expert: Defense budget demands could set back standard of living 20 years
27.8.06 | 08:32 By Moti Bassok
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Finance Minister Abraham irchson are to meet this morning to discuss defense establishment budgetary demands through 2010.
Defense officials are seeking NIS 30 billion, mostly in fiscal 2007 and 2008, for resupplying, reacquiring weapons systems damaged during the war and preparing for the next war based on the lessons of recent hostilities, including developing new arms. The defense establishment is working under the assumption the Israel Defense Forces needs to be prepared quickly.
Continue reading ‘Israeli Expert: Defense budget demands could set back standard of living 20 years’
Israel admits that it has now been severely weakened by Hizbullah due to the Second Lebanese War. Interesting admission.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday lashed out against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Knesset speech that touched on the Second Lebanon War.
Netanyahu addressed the plenum after Olmert spoke and said the prime minister’s functioning during the crisis had weakened Israel’s position.
“The greatest failure as a result of the war is that Israel’s deterrent capability has been severely harmed,” Netanyahu told the Knesset plenum.
The opposition had given the government “full support to achieve the [war’s] goals, but [it] failed to do so,” he said.
Round 1 went to Hizbullah, with the shameful defeat of the Zionist forces by giving them a bloody nose. Now the IAF (Israeli Aggression Forces) are itching for a Round 2. It seems that they have not learnt their lesson!
Analysis: Israelis want rematch in Lebanon
Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
April 4, 2007
WASHINGTON — It seems as though some Israeli military and political leaders are champing at the bit for a rematch with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after the bloody nose the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) got there last summer.
The difference this time around? The IDF will go into Gaza, too - and it is all part of a plan to neutralize Iranian proxies on Israel’s borders, one element of a strategic effort to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons and overthrow the mullahs in Tehran.
Continue reading ‘Israelis want rematch in Lebanon’
Ehud Olmert facing the book over his war crimes in Lebanon. He has certainly much to account for, indeed. Seems that he can no longer boast about a “victory” in Lebanese soil now.
Prime Minister Olmert of Israel spent hours yesterday testifying before the commission investigating Israel’s conduct during its much-criticized war in Lebanon over the summer.
The Winograd commission was appointed in the fall to try to reconstruct the government’s decisions during the war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas and to determine if anyone should be censured.
The government has been criticized for failing to meet its two main objectives — destroying Hezbollah and returning two Israeli soldiers whose capture by the guerrillas sparked the war. Reserve soldiers returning from the battlefield also complained of poor preparations and lack of food and ammunition.
Well we all know that the two soldiers were never returned and Hizbullah is not only alive and well, they are attempting to kick out the current government in Beirut.
The inevitable has happened and Israel’s Chief Army Staff [of Terrorism] Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz has resigned amidst calls due to the failure in Lebanon (see also here and here). Looks like the claims that Israel “won” the war in Lebanon is totally mistaken. It is Hizbullah’s victory, no doubt about it. Which is such an irony since this man was the one who said that he will “turn the clock back in Lebanon by 20 years”. Which he actually did, but at a price to his job.
Israeli army chief quits over Lebanon
By Harvey Morris in Jerusalem and agencies
Published: January 17 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 17 2007 02:00
The chief of Israel’s armed forces has resigned over the conduct of last year’s Lebanon war, generating further pressure on the political leadership that oversaw the conflict.
The departure of Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, 58, late on Tuesday, followed an internal inquiry pointed to his responsibility in a conflict in which Israel failed to fulfil its initial war aim of liquidating the Hizbollah movement.
Continue reading ‘Israel’s Chief Staff of Terrorism resigns over Lebanon failure’