BREAKING NEWS

Knesset votes down bill to make defense budget transparent

MAY 21, 2014 15:29

The Knesset voted down a bill to make the defense budget transparent, proposed by MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), in its preliminary reading Wednesday.

Presenting the bill in the plenum, Horowitz referred to the ongoing battle between the Finance and Defense Ministries about the defense budget.

"As part of this war, every week there's a new report and the public doesn't know what to think," Horowitz said. "We in the Knesset don't really know if the cuts are necessary or who's supervising them. Even Finance Ministry bureaucrats can't access the information."

Horowitz added that if the IDF feels like the Finance Ministry is trying to delegitimize it, making the budget more transparent is the place to begin fighting that.

Deputy Finance Minister Mickey Levi said the defense budget has "full parliamentary transparency," as it is discussed in a joint Foreign Affairs and Defense and Finance subcommittee, but it cannot be transparent to the public.

The Knesset rejected the bill with 14 in favor, 35 opposed.

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