By agency reports
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an additional defence budget of 110 billion dollars (350 billion Israeli Shekels) over the next 10 years.
He disclosed this during the Conference for Senior Security and Foreign Affairs Officials at the ISA headquarters, under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission.
“We are investing an additional 350 billion NIS over the next decade.
”This will impact nearly every agency represented here, in order to make Israel a very, very strong country, highly advanced and, to the extent possible, highly independent.
“Back when I established the National Cyber Directorate, I said we would be among the first worldwide. They said: “Virtual Prime Minister”, “what is that talk? cyber, what is that?”.
”Today, we are in second place worldwide, in absolute terms, in receiving foreign investment.
“The U.S., then us, then Germany, and we need to reach a similar situation in AI.
“I am certain we can do it, and we must do it, with regards to munitions, weapons platforms, information systems.
“At the moment, I am speaking about national security, because without national security we have nothing. We will have to be at the top of the list.
“This will allow us to form alliances and diversify them; it will help us withstand pressures. This will also help us achieve peace arrangements and normalization with those others who will seek our partnership.
Beyond the broad picture I described, the creation of alliances, the munitions that we need, the development of systems, and the integration between ministries – you need to bring in the best people.
“You need to fight for these people, and we need to be thinking, Danny [Acting Civil Service Commissioner], about how to create the freedom to appoint people.
You must have the ability and the freedom to do this, to bypass all the insane hurdles for appointments, which are all bureaucratic and are all under the control of legal advisors who thwart them on a daily basis.
“This we need to tear down, because otherwise we will not have the forces who would lead that change,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying.
