The Israel Defense Forces and the National Economy of Israel

The subject of the seventh session of IDI's Army and Society Forum, which was held in the summer of 2003, was "The Israel Defense Forces and the National Economy of Israel." This session was held in the eye of the storm – that is to say, during the government debate on the 2004 state budget, a debate which naturally included a discussion of the defense budget. The session was attended by senior officers of the Israel Defense Forces officers headed by the chief-of-staff, the staff of the Israel Democracy Institute, academic researchers and public figures from various sectors of Israeli society.

A variety of opinions and approaches, summarized in this article, were expressed during the session. The present article is based on the participants' comments and on the preparatory material distributed to the participants prior to the session.

Appendix A includes the session program; Appendix B provides a list of invited guests, according to the different discussion groups; Appendix C lists the background material distributed to the participants.