Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., October 22, 2009 Cheshvan 4, 5770 | | Israel Time: 02:53 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books
Share |
Efficiency is good for security
By Haaretz Editorial
Tags: israel news, IDF

On Monday, the Defense Ministry announced a cutback in its New York procurement office involving cutting the staff by 10 Israeli and 40 local employees over three years. Although this looks like a cut, in practice, it is just another round in a public relations campaign by the ministry and the Israel Defense Forces, throwing sand in the public's face.

The procurement office in New York should have been closed long ago. There is no need for it in the Internet era. Egypt buys military hardware in the United States in similar amounts as Israel, but has a staff of only three for that purpose. The Israeli office comprises 170 employees, at a huge cost, and senior staff receive jobs in New York as a perk due to their connections. In that same spirit, Victor Bar Gil, the Defense Ministry's deputy director general, was appointed this week to the superfluous position of head of the Israeli military delegation in Thailand.

The military delegation in Paris is also superfluous. It is nothing more than an unnecessary holdover from the period of good military ties between Israel and France until 1967. It is the same office that was unable to even find a hotel room at a reasonable price for Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his entourage when they attended the Paris Air Show.
Advertisement
The Finance Ministry has been unsuccessfully trying for 10 years to close the Defense Ministry's overseas military offices around the world (including those in Brussels and Berlin). Similarly the treasury hasn't been able to impose a cost-saving plan on the IDF, to which the government consented more than two years ago in connection with the Brodet Commission's report.

At that time, it was decided that the IDF would submit a comprehensive cost-saving plan of a magnitude of NIS 30 billion over 10 years. The IDF committed to submit the plan by November 1, 2007, but no such plan has been forthcoming. Instead there are periodic declarations about mini-measures involving negligible sums, such as the cosmetic cuts to the New York staff, which don't address the tough problems at all.

One of the most important measures that could be implemented is raising the retirement age of career soldiers, which today is 42. In May, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi committed to submit a detailed plan for raising the retirement age within four months, but those months have come and gone and no plan has been forthcoming.

The prime minister and defense minister must take charge and force the IDF to submit a detailed cost-saving plan and implement it. That, too, would contribute to the defense of the country.
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Hamas war crimes
International human rights group urges Hamas to probe attacks on Israeli civilians.
Fighting anti-Semitism
ADL slams two U.S. Republicans for calling Jews penny-pinchers.
Special Offers
Advertisement
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Date Local Jewish Singles
Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
23:09 American UN envoy to Israel: Relaunch Mideast talks now
18:48 Clinton: Iran must quickly implement uranium deal
19:49 'U.S. to stand by Israel in the fight against Goldstone report'
17:16 International rights group: Hamas must probe attacks on Israeli civilians
00:26 'London broker owed $20m to Israeli sports exec who killed himself'
15:32 ADL slams two U.S. Republicans for calling Jews penny-pinchers
23:10 Egypt airline: Hijacker tries to divert Cairo-bound plane to Jerusalem
00:11 TV ROUND-UP: Iran uranium deal presented; Barak fined for poor Knesset attendance
22:20 'If you want to save the planet, the planet doesn't need you'
12:22 How the Muslim world deals with the rise of Islamism
15:56 Bukharian Jews protect their culture in a N.Y. enclave
21:42 Interior Minister skips immigration debate attended by foreign workers' children
13:06 Deputy PM to Haaretz: Israel must probe Gaza war
21:43 Solana: EU has closer ties to Israel than potential member Croatia
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved