The Ministry of Defense presented a worrying situation on Monday regarding the implications of the new aid agreement with the United States, which gradually eliminates the possibility of purchasing up to 26 percent of the aid budget from the local defense industry.
The ministry told the Knesset Finance Committee that amounts to billions of shekels each year. It became clear that this would cause significant damage to the local military industry and Israel's capabilities, and could cause hundreds of jobs to be demolished and thousands of workers to be fired, many of them in the periphery. At this stage the government has no plans to resolve the situation. The committee called for reopening the agreement in light of the presentation. Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni announced that he would convene the committee again within a month.