Knesset Panel Approves First Stage of Defense Export Licensing Reform

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the first stage of the Defense Ministry's plan to shorten timelines and digitize defense-export licensing. The approved measures reduce deadlines for exporter-registry enrollment and marketing licenses and anchor a regulated product document intended to enable broader marketing-license exemptions in the next stage. The wider reform would expand eligible countries for unclassified products and create exemptions for certain restricted products, moving most unclassified products toward one-stage licensing. The ministry says the changes will pair faster exports with tighter enforcement and stronger exporter duties to protect state security.