Divisive government report calls for deep reforms in army

A government report on military spending that calls for comprehensive reforms and some major belt-tightening measures in the Israel Defense Forces will be released on Tuesday, and is already facing heavy fire from the army’s top brass.

The Locker Commission, headed by Major General (Res.) Yohanan Locker, is expected to recommend that the army dismiss thousands of career officers, drastically cut notoriously generous pensions and reduce mandatory service time for men to 24 months (a further reduction from the current 32 months, which until recently was 36 months).

It will also recommend a fixed annual budget of NIS 59 billion ($15 billion) for the next five years — the defense budget has traditionally grown by several billion shekels every year, with infusions beyond the official budget — and call for closer oversight of the army’s manpower branch, according to reports.

The report, which was submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago, has elicited a furious response from military officials, who warn that implementing its recommendations will harm the IDF’s capabilities and dissuade talented and promising individuals from seeking a career in the service.

One anonymous official called the report “a bullet between the eyes of the IDF” and a plan “suitable for Switzerland,” not Israel.

The military has meanwhile put together its own reorganization plan, which it suggests as an alternative to the Locker Report’s suggestions.

Termed the “Gideon” plan, it would see career officers’ pensions upheld, with certain reforms; cuts to the military’s reserve personnel; a 6 percent across-the-board cut to headquarters personnel; the relegation of certain jobs to the civilian sector; and several structural reforms in combat units.