Can Israel afford to wage war?

In the following few weeks Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, hopes to realize last parliamentary approval for an emergency battle finances. It contains more money for settlers within the West Financial institution, in addition to for spiritual faculties, the place youngsters examine the Torah relatively than science—a part of an try and unite his fissiparous political coalition. And it additionally accommodates a startling break with the previous. On a regular basis welfare spending (lengthy beneficiant in Israel, owing to its socialist foundations) shall be slashed in an effort to fund the nation’s armed forces. The navy finances will virtually double from 2023 to 2024. Israel’s unwritten social contract, which has for 70-odd years promised each a beneficiant welfare state and a fearsome navy, is beneath risk.