Why Netanyahu's government is a huge danger to Israel's defense industry - opinion

God is in the details – so the saying goes. I won’t presume to comment on God, but when it comes to lies, they certainly preside there. Any police investigator will tell you that a suspect’s version will sound credible until the investigation begins to focus on the nitty-gritty of the finer points. It is here that the liar’s fibs will fall through.In our case, the finer details could be spotted in the side notes of the prime minister’s remarks, when Benjamin Netanyahu committed to “massive allocations” towards the security industry to reduce Israel’s reliance on foreign influences.

Initially, these words seem like a no-brainer. Who wouldn’t want to reduce Israel’s dependency on foreign countries, especially ones upon which we rely whenever we urgently need to replenish our emergency stockpiles?The problem begins when you mull this over in your head. It starts to sound all too familiar, like watching a movie and trying to remember where you’ve seen the leading actor before when then it suddenly hits you: oh, he’s the same one who played in...

Well, Netanyahu is the man who also played in the previous seasons of “reducing dependency on foreign powers,” a series that is broadcasted repeatedly in his worn-out brain without ever resulting in a good conclusion, or at least, a comprehensive one, as often is the case in a show that has exhausted itself.

We’ve already had the rhetoric of “Netanyahu is going to do away with American support” – an excellent episode that resonated well in Congress.

Since then, as you know, Israel presumably no longer needs security assistance from the Americans.If you enjoyed this episode, you definitely came back for more of Netanyahu’s masterful season of “reducing dependency on oil,” another series that sounds impressive with a lot of buzz and vision on paper but ends up fizzling out (sometimes after establishing a committee to “examine the issue and formulate recommendations”) like the “freezing of mortgages” before the elections.

Jokes aside, security independence is essential, but only if one understands that it is derived from economic independence. One can assume that Netanyahu knows this. The only reason a country like the United States provides security assistance to many countries worldwide, from Ukraine to Israel (if we bring two relevant examples), is that it has a strong economy that allows it to have the strongest military in the world and the most advanced arms industry.

However, even security independence, vital as it may be, cannot stand alone as a condition for survival, but only as part of a comprehensive national response. In other words, Israel does not only need ammunition, Patriot missiles, or smart bombs from the Americans but also, and perhaps even more acutely, the international community’s backing. Imagine, for example, that the International Court of Justice at The Hague issues an interim order to cease hostilities in Gaza, and the matter immediately goes to the UN Security Council – without an American veto.Can anyone even fathom what this would mean in the aspect of Israel’s economy, which is already in duress? Restrictions on the flow of funds, trade bans with Israeli companies, and more.

A true catastrophe that might seem like an absurd scenario but underscores that security dependence is merely a clause in Israel’s existential dependence on international support, which is led by the US.But let’s assume, just for a moment, that we settle for the security clause. Does the local defense industry need those “huge investments?” Well, almost no entities will refuse such investments.

Putin's Excellent Campaign

After the Soviet Union’s dissolution and an atmosphere of global peace seemingly materializing, fundamentalist Islam raised its ugly head. Meanwhile, Putin’s sole rule in Russia quickly warmed what remained of the Cold War, and his invasion of Ukraine made the threat all too real to all Europeans (especially at a time when former US President Donald Trump cut American support to NATO and rightly demanded that the Europeans start funding their own security expenses). Simultaneously, China’s territorial claims began to cast a shadow of terror over its neighbors.

The Result: Israel's Security Industry Thrives

Consequently, countries like Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Greece, Italy, and Australia, which are not exactly states with enormous security expenses, found themselves in an unprecedented situation of needing to substantially invest in their military forces. Just imagine what doubling the security expenditure in the German state budget from 1% to 2% looks like, as indeed happened.One of the major beneficiaries of this arms race is Israel, or more precisely, its defense industry.Rafael, Elbit’s aerospace industry, and other entities comprising Israel’s defense production, be they large or small, have experienced an extraordinary boom in recent years. New contracts worth hundreds of millions, and even billions, are signed every quarter, with deals in the tens of millions now deemed “insignificant” even in economic journalistic terms.

The industry’s challenge lies in not having sufficient manpower and production resources to maximize opportunities and shorten delivery times. This was true even before the outbreak of Israel's war with Hamas, and it remains doubly true now, as the Israel Defense Forces has also become a huge customer urgently in need of products from the security industry.

Notably, not only do these entities mentioned not require government assistance they actually contribute to it. Even the aerospace industry, criticized for salary discrepancies, contributes a substantial dividend check (similar to other government-owned companies in the field) to the state’s treasury.In essence, two billion shekels have accumulated, convincing minister David Amsalem to finally “be persuaded” to transfer them to the State of Israel.

One Lie Too Many

One lie too many doesn’t mean that Israel’s security industries don’t need those “massive investments,” but that these investments are in the infrastructure sector that produces high-quality human resources.High school graduates who studied computers, mathematics, physics, and other sciences, the best of whom will integrate into the academic future of the IDF or technological units, will become researchers at universities and foster the human future of the security industry.

This is the secret ingredient that makes Israel’s security exports so valued and sought after worldwide (alongside the IDF serving as a real-time testing unit for all these developments).Why does Israel’s security industry need more? Skilled hands in production lines, especially now when so many production workers are being recruited for the war effort.But in effect, the Netanyahu-led government does not foster educational excellence, encourage creativity, and inflate the budget for an average education system by which excellence could flourish. Assuming there are not enough high schools to cultivate future scientists, even convincing ultra-Orthodox to contribute to the national service in the form of work in the industry, which needs not only engineers but also production workers, could strengthen this industry.

The ultra-Orthodox illustrate the true nature of Netanyahu’s government well. Budgets for yeshiva students may not be the central item on the state budget, but they teach us something about the government’s ability, or more accurately, its inability to mobilize funds for vital purposes – at the expense of coalition financial interests.So, we can endlessly discuss what sort of support is given to IDF reservists, although this lacks budgetary sources. We can also promise an unlimited investment in the military’s industry, and we can further claim that Amsalem is a permanent observer in the cabinet (not true), or that Israel won’t stop fighting until complete victory is achieved (good luck to those who believe this).

One can stand before an entire nation and lie nonstop for a full half an hour. One can say that there is enough money for all, then retract this statement by clarifying that no, in fact this actually refers to the previous budget, not the upcoming 2024 one. The microphone can withstand it all, it cares not either way. But oftentimes we can find the greatest deceptions precisely where they are buried ever so deeply – in the details. Whoever is waiting for billions to flow into the security industry is the same person who is waiting for victory parades to soon take place, who is believing that the Caesar has someone whispering memento mori into his ear whereby any day now, the hostages will be coming home.