Netanyahu warns war with Iran would be ‘extremely costly’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that a war with Iran would carry a heavy financial cost, saying the government will need to allocate a special wartime budget worth tens of billions of shekels.

In a joint statement with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said the government considered the confrontation unavoidable but warned that the financial burden would be significant.

“There was absolutely no doubt that we had to fight this battle, and we are doing everything we can with our soldiers and pilots,” Netanyahu said, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

“But there is a major obstacle: it is costly, extremely costly. Therefore, we are required to allocate a special budget during the war, amounting to tens of billions of shekels, to support the defence budget and the war effort,” he added.

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Finance Minister Smotrich confirmed that the additional spending would reach tens of billions of shekels, arguing that the funds should be viewed as an investment rather than ordinary government expenditure.

“We are talking about tens of billions of shekels. This is not spending, but rather an investment,” he said.

Smotrich also indicated that the government would temporarily set aside several controversial domestic issues to focus on the war effort.

Among the measures being delayed is a draft law concerning exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, which had previously sparked significant political debate in Israel.

The proposed legislation has faced strong opposition from the parliamentary opposition and from some figures within the governing coalition in recent months.

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