Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced billions in investments in the country’s own defense industry. Netanyahu announced that 350 billion shekels (a good 93 billion euros) will be invested over the next ten years. In Israel “An independent arms industry” should be built, he said at an army ceremony at an air base in the south of the country. “We want to reduce our dependence on others, even friends,” the head of government added.
Much of the equipment used by the Israeli army comes from the USA. According to the US Congress, the US provided Israel with $3.3 billion (2.8 billion euros) in military aid this year and $500 million (425 million euros) for missile defense cooperation.
In the past two years, some countries have protested against Israel’s actions Gaza Strip stopped or imposed restrictions on their arms sales to the country. In view of this, Netanyahu has already announced several times that Israel must become more independent in defense in order to avoid possible supply bottlenecks. “Peace is made with the strong, not with the weak,” Netanyahu said in his speech at the air base.
According to government figures, in 2026 Israel will spend around 16 percent of its national budget on defense, which corresponds to almost 30 billion euros. Before the Gaza war Israel’s defense budget amounted to around 17 billion euros.
Read more about the current developments in the Gaza war here.
