After learning that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is blocking the purchase of the F-35 and F-15 aircraft, which has been in the works between Israel and the U.S. and is now in the advanced stages of discussion, officials from the Pentagon expressed their concerns about the delay with their counterparts in the Defense Ministry.
As first reported by Ynet, Smotrich opposes approving the purchase of two squadrons of combat aircraft until the government convenes the finance committee to examine the security budget.
"The Ministry of Defense requests the convening of the Ministerial Committee for the Defense Establishment's acquisition without consent to approve two long-term transactions with a total cost of approximately 35 billion shekels for the purchase of a squadron of F-35 aircraft and a squadron of F-15 aircraft. Convening the committee and approving a transaction of this magnitude without consent from the Finance Ministry and the Finance Minister is unprecedented and I don't intend to confirm this," Smotrich wrote in a letter he sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The war challenges many basic assumptions in the security budgets and requires renewed thought. Following the war, the defense establishment requires huge budget additions and the Finance Ministry's position is that fundamental assumptions and priorities need to be revised accordingly," he added.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset, and commented on the "political" examination of the security budget. "There is an attempt to establish a political committee for political examination, in which three political representatives will preside. It will harm the power build-up of the IDF, which has been successfully managed for years. This is unacceptable and will not happen. I am not willing to accept it."
Gallant and Smotrich have yet to agree on the identity of the committee members and, especially, the mandate the committee will be given. The IDF had demanded to double its budget and add 55 billion shekels to its base budget even before the lessons that were learned from October 7.
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Defense Minister Gallant with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
(Photo: Ariel Hermoni, MoD)
The purchase of the aircraft squadrons was at the center of Yoav Gallant's priorities during his visit to the United States, and later in talks held by the Defense Ministry Director-General Eyal Zamir. In the U.S., it was reported that the Biden administration has essentially approved the deals, but the vast amount of funding Israel will pay requires approval from the Ministerial Committee as well.
Although this deal will bear fruit in the future, delivery delays will be problematic due to the upcoming retirement of several IDF combat aircraft due to their age. Israel is still waiting for the approval of the Apache helicopters deal by the U.S. as part of the lessons learned from October 7 and an immediate necessity to be prepared for similar events.