Critics of the Disengagement Plan insisted throughout its implementation that the funds to finance the expulsion were in overwhelming excess of what was outlined in the state budget.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) told the committee that a certain IDF general told him a few years ago,“The IDF doesn’t consider MKs” – meaning the IDF does not need to worry about Knesset approval to receive its funding.
At the meeting, the prevailing conclusion was to have the matter of the defense budgetary procedure passed to the Knesset Defense Committee.
Chairman of the Knesset Defense Committee Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) is calling for doing away with the Joint Committee for the Defense Budget altogether. He said that it failed to prevent unilateral decisions from being made by the prime minister.
“In the State of Israel, there is no parliamentary body overseeing the defense budget,” Shteinitz said. “The process by which the budget is approved by the joint committee is improper and suffering from a long series of fundamental flaws.”
Steinitz has begun formulating changes in the law to solve the problem, though the Defense Ministry and Knesset Finance Committee both oppose such a move.