National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has secured funding for his department to build 936 new prison beds over a three-year period, with a total budget of 536 million shekels. This decision was covered by The Marker.
Initially, Treasury officials insisted that the funds for the program come from Ben-Gvir’s department budget. This led to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposing a sequester of budgets for all ministries, causing outrage among many cabinet members. After intense negotiations, a compromise was reached where half of the funding for the program would come from the sequester and the other half from the Defense Department budget.
As a result of this decision, the Department of Homeland Security will need to finance 225 new jobs in the Bureau of Prisons from its own budget. This allocation of funds and the compromise reached demonstrate the intricate financial considerations at play in the national security sector.