Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Barak Rules Out Defense Cuts To Fund Social Programs

Amid recent calls for the slashing of Israel’s security budget, Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded Thursday that “life itself precedes quality of life”, and that an investment in the country’s security is an “insurance policy”.

In an interview with Haaretz, Barak stated that the Defense Ministry is already cutting its NIS 40 billion budget, but that the Israeli social protesters will not find their “salvation” in said cuts.

“There is no possibility to implement these cuts to assist the public without exposing Israeli citizens to danger,” said Barak.

Barak’s statements come as a response to tent protesters and government agencies, including the Finance Ministry, who have been eyeing the defense budget as a possible source of cuts in order to fund social programs.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.