Israeli Army Demands Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Training

The Israeli army says it needs some $570 million immediately in order to protect Israel from growing threats and to continue training. Senior officers told Israeli media that if they do not receive the injection of cash, they will have to completely suspend training for ground forces, and might even stop training for Israel’s vaunted air force. Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that when the government decided to cut $1.2 billion from the defense budget for 2014, he warned that the army would run out of money in April. Officials in the Finance Ministry responded that the 2014 budget is the largest in history, and that any more money for the army would mean cuts in education and social welfare.