Budget woes and crafty operations
Soldiers are set to get a bigger salary, but nothing is set in stone until the government passes the budget next week
With the budget deadline looming, domestic financial matters take precedence in the Hebrew press on Friday over the Islamic State’s twin suicide bombing in Beirut which claimed the lives of over 40 people.
Good news for rank and file enlisted soldiers. Yedioth Ahronoth gleefully proclaims Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s announcement that starting in January, IDF soldiers’ salaries will go up by 50% at an overall expense of NIS 660 million. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warns the troops against going on a spending spree, saying that there’s been no final agreement on the matter. Ya’alon advocates a lump-sum stipend for soldiers at the end of their service rather than a monthly bump in salary.
Soldiers’ salaries were a key part of Kahlon’s campaign platform, and the upcoming vote on the (long overdue) annual budget may put the matter on the block. Yedioth Ahronoth reports that there’s a week remaining for the Knesset to pass a budget for 2015-2016, and if it doesn’t go through it could spell the end for the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Knesset has until next Friday to approve the budget in committee, and get approval in two votes in the plenary. The paper says that Netayahu’s problems in getting a budget through stem from his various and conflicting promises to his coalition partners: zero VAT on public transportation, water and electricity to Shas; universal draft amendment to United Torah Judaism; and settlement construction to his right-wing allies.
According to Israel Hayom, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri’s demand to drop value added tax on public transportation, and tax cuts on water for the lower class, may go into effect. Deri met with Netanyahu and other coalition party leaders Thursday night and was to meet with Kahlon on Friday to try to hammer out an agreement.
The best laid plans of mice and IDF generals don’t always pan out, and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s initiative to streamline the military and reduce reliance on reservists doesn’t appear to pan out in 2016.
According to a front page report in Haaretz, the IDF is prepared for the possible call up of 70 reserve brigades over the course of 2016 in case the security situation requires it. The projected cost of such a mobilization over the course of the year amounts to approximately NIS 300 million. The IDF brass are preparing for the worst case scenario of the current wave of Palestinian violence not subsiding in the coming months, or even year.
The High Court of Justice’s decision to allow the demolition of the homes of five Palestinian terrorists gets little attention in Haaretz, but makes front page news in Israel Hayom. The top appeals body made a unanimous decision to allow the Israeli government to destroy five houses in Nablus, Ramallah and Qalandia, but accepted the appeal of one family, who rents, Israel Hayom reports. Chief Justice Miriam Naor said in her ruling that while the move is a drastic punishment, “Given the deterrent power of using the regulation, sometimes there is no choice but to make use of it.”
Haaretz plays up the remark by Justice Noam Solberg, who responded to claims of discrimination (inasmuch as Palestinian terrorists’ homes are demolished and Jewish terrorists’ homes aren’t) saying that “Among the Jewish public there’s no need for the same deterrence” because “the Jewish public as a whole is deterred and holds back, and isn’t incited [to violence].”
For the tabloids, the details of an undercover IDF raid on a hospital to catch the suspected Palestinian perpetrator of a recent stabbing is as good as the silver screen. Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel Hayom report breathlessly how IDF and Shin Bet operatives, disguised as a pregnant Palestinian woman and her family members, arrived at the maternity ward of Hebron’s al-Ahli hospital and, guns drawn, arrested the suspect. The security camera footage of the incident from the hospital, writes Israel Hayom, “doesn’t have audio, but the pictures speak for themselves.”
The cousin of the suspect attempted to attack the soldiers and was shot, Yedioth Ahronoth reports. Israel Hayom cites the Shin Bet saying that the suspect was a Hamas member, as was the cousin who was shot. Israel Hayom one-ups the Yedioth Ahronoth report, quoting an unnamed security source saying that during the arrest the cousin leaped up with an object in his hand and shouted “Allahu akbar.” The security agencies tell the paper that the fighters feared for their lives and shot the man.