Government approves emergency transfer for immediate military procurement, with 850 million shekels coming from funds earmarked for Intel’s frozen southern Israel plant and another 150 million shekels from budget decisions that have not been implemented this yearThe government on Sunday approved an additional 1 billion shekels ($333.4 million) for Israel’s defense establishment in what the proposal described as an especially urgent transfer “in light of the state of emergency in which the State of Israel finds itself.”The move had already been approved Thursday by the ministerial committee responsible for procurement and was formally ratified Sunday by the government. The emergency addition will not breach the existing state budget framework.Munitions (Photo: IDF)Of the total, 850 million shekels will come from funds originally allocated by the Economy and Industry Ministry for investment in the technology sector and employment promotion. The money had effectively been earmarked for Intel, but after the technology company froze construction of its planned factory in southern Israel, the funds will instead be redirected to the IDF.A further 150 million shekels will come from earlier budget decisions that have not been implemented so far this year. The full 1 billion shekels will be used for urgent IDF weapons procurement, the details of which are barred from publication.The decision will raise Israel’s defense budget to a new record of 184 billion shekels (about $61.34 million). It comes just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the security cabinet that he intends to increase the additional defense funding planned for the coming decade by another 50 billion shekels.Under Netanyahu’s proposal, the long-term increase would rise to 400 billion shekels from the 350 billion shekels figure he had announced only weeks earlier. The prime minister’s announcement was made without prior consultation with senior Finance Ministry officials or the Bank of Israel.Several senior Finance Ministry officials expressed surprise at the additional funding proposal and warned that if it is implemented, “taxes will have to be raised and civilian ministry budgets will have to be cut further.”