JERUSALEM, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Cabinet approved on Sunday the 2008 defense budget, a sum totaling 50.5 billion New Israel Shekels (NIS) (about 11.9 billion U.S. dollars), as recommended by the Brodet Commission which was charged with reviewing the defense budget.

    The Israeli defense budget for 2008 is slightly higher than that of Year 2007, which reached a record of 50 billion NIS aiming at rearming in wake of the Israeli war with Lebanon's Hezbollah group in 2006.

    The Cabinet was presented with the agreement reached between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Finance Minister Ronie Bar-On, and it was approved by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

    According to a statement released from Israeli Government Press Office, half a billion NIS of the budget will be transferred to the 2007 security budget and 1.3 billion NIS would be spread out and paid in 2009.

    "The budget, which met the approval of professionals in both the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense, constitutes an expression of the government's trend to strengthen the security budget and place it at the head of national priorities," the statement said.

    Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Ministry has announced a "significant" cut of 6 billion NIS to the total 2008 State Budget of some 300 billion NIS. The cuts were expected to affect social programs, according to a report by Jerusalem Post. (1 U.S. dollar =about 4.24 shekels)