ABSTRACT
The military situation, of course, leaves everyone dissatisfied: the defense establishment, with the weak economy and civilian criticism; economics specialists, at the dominant defense component in Israel's economic life. There are even a few confirmed reports of Finance Ministry and Bank of Israel experts being admitted, however grudgingly, into inner defense councils. Since the mid-seventies the Israeli national economy has not grown anywhere near fast enough to provide for the common defense or to fund military programs. Moreover, experts insist that defense itself is one of the prime reasons for stagnation in an economy crumbling under the weight of security. The actual amount of the total national and defense budgets spent on arms inside Israel proper is relatively small. In Israel as well as anywhere else, any realistic approach to defense economics must factor in such features as waste, mismanagement, fraud and abuse.
