Like all decisions of this kind, the government postponed at the last minute the decision on the "addition of the chief of staff" to the IDF's pensions.
This is an unpleasant decision, because its budgetary significance is enormous, it has no moral justification and no other logic - apart from the courage needed to change a historic decision that is out of all proportion.
Yesterday, the government also approved the proposal to lower the age of exemption from conscription for the ultra-Orthodox from 24 to 21. Interestingly, these two decisions stem from the same kind of historical decision that was made in the absence of perspective. In the 1950s, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion decided to exempt young yeshiva students from enlistment in the IDF, without even imagining the rate of increase in the number and historical significance of the decision, which actually paved the way for the ultra-Orthodox in Zion. the world.
Only a decade later, another decision was made, also by Ben-Gurion, in the ninth Israeli government, according to which the chief of staff was authorized to approve a unique pension supplement for selected soldiers. This decision was given like an open check - with no limit on quantity and time.
The High Court has already spoken out and ordered the government to make a decision on the matter, by this month. You do not have to be a judge to understand that the army has taken liberty, and relying on a decision 50 years ago creates a huge and very problematic commitment. If we add to this the unresolved actuarial deficit of the state in general, then it is a ticking bomb that lies at the doorstep of our children and grandchildren.
This decision, which was professionally opposed by the Ministry of Finance, is also problematic because it discriminates against permanent IDF servicemen, who enjoy an average pension of NIS 17,200 a month, and it also does not reward unique groups, as Ben-Gurion intended in the original and more sensible decision. The more sensible decision was to reduce the amount of pensions to bring about a more sensible distribution of military resources, which now allocates half of its budget to pay salaries, even though it is an army of free compulsory service.