Israeli lawmakers approve increment to 2015 defense budget

The Israeli defense budget for 2015 increased on Monday as lawmakers voted in favor of a 2.5 billion shekels (640 million U.S. dollars) increment.

That means the defense budget for the outgoing year will reach nearly 70 billion shekels (18 billion U.S. dollars), whereas the original amount stood at 56 billion shekels.

The funds for the aforementioned increase will come from surpluses in the government ministries budget from 2014. The increment to the Defense Ministry's budget is unusual, as the surplus funds used to cover the country's national debt.

Lawmakers from the opposition slammed the decision, saying the increment ridicules the due process of passing budgets in the committee, and that they did not receive explanation to the use of these funds.

The issue of the imbalance between a growing defense budget and deteriorated budgets for civilian ministries had become prominent on the public agenda since the 2011 social justice protests, in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets.

Public debate on this topic continues, as citizens demand to know to what purposes the funds are being allocated. Endit