The Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs is expected to discuss today (Sunday) a bill formulated by the Ministry of Defense, according to which the IDF will pay additions to the budgetary pension for retirees and new retirees totaling NIS 1.5 billion per year.
The proposal, dubbed the "Chiefs of Staff's Additions, was approved by the government as early as August last year, but did not reach the Knesset due to the opposition of some members of the coalition.
The timing of the proposal is not very successful - just a few days ago, the Accountant General of the Ministry of Finance issued a serious report on wage expenditures in the defense system for 2020. The report shows, among other things, that the budget pension of IDF officers is on average 5.3 times higher. From the budgetary pension of civil servants, this is due to the early retirement age of IDF officers and due to a relatively high average pension.
"At the expense of the young"
The professional echelon in the Ministry of Finance has previously expressed opposition to the move since IDF retirees are entitled to exorbitant benefits anyway - the average retirement age in the IDF is about a decade lower than that of other retirees in the defense system, but its pension benefits are similar or higher than their counterparts.
Moreover, the actuarial commitment of the defense establishment in respect of the budgetary pension already stands at NIS 360 billion.
Meanwhile, nine organizations involved in promoting transparency in government policy-making processes - Net Profit, Ecclesiastical Forum, Israel 2050, Financial Justice, Israel Institute for Economic Planning, Movement for Freedom of Information, Transparent, Movement for Quality of Government and Success - contacted Minister Justice Gideon Saar, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The letter states that the publication of the Finance Report obliges the government to re-examine the salary structure in the IDF prior to the legislation in question.
One of the reasons for the organizations' request is that "most of the salary box goes to those who have already retired, to veterans and freelancers, at the expense of the young and operationally fit even though the military needs them more."
It was also noted that in an international comparison, the salary in the IDF officers' professions is low at the beginning of the military career, but it rises sharply with seniority and ranks and becomes very high in an international comparison.
Providing early pensions to those who are not at the core of the operational activity is absurd, expensive and harms the IDF's ability to retain quality manpower. "
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