The Knesset Finance Committee convened on Tuesday ahead of a vote to approve the transfer of NIS 98 million to haredi (ultra-Orthodox) educational institutions, after the funds had been halted by the High Court for being transferred unlawfully without prior committee approval.
The High Court last month ordered the Finance Committee to reconvene and hold a fresh deliberation on the matter before voting to approve the transfer of the funds. By press time on Tuesday, the debates continued in the committee with no decision reached.
The NIS 98m. to be approved is the amount that was frozen by the High Court in the case, after roughly NIS 800m. was already transferred and remains at the center of the petitions that were sent to the High Court.
The case centers on a budget transfer approved by the Finance Committee on December 25, 2025, which shifted funds from various government ministries for education purposes, including to haredi educational institutions.
The petitions to the High Court against the transfer were filed by Yesh Atid lawmakers and the Hiddush NGO, together with The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi, and were later heard together.
At the January 8 hearing, it emerged that most of the money had already been distributed before the committee vote, prompting sharp criticism from the bench and an interim order freezing further transfers.
In March, the Knesset Legal Department, filing on behalf of the Finance Committee itself, said the Finance Ministry acted unlawfully by advancing most of the money before obtaining the committee’s approval.
The High Court ruling stated that the NIS 98 million could be transferred only after Finance Committee members had received all the material they deemed necessary.
Yesh Atid slams decision to host discussion on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Ahead of the committee debate on Tuesday, Yesh Atid sharply criticized the discussion for taking place on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was not the originally scheduled date.
“While in the previous budget, NIS 3.3 million was cut from assistance funds for Holocaust survivors, today the
Finance Committee is discussing the transfer of about NIS 100 million to ultra-Orthodox educational institutions,” Yesh Atid stated.
“These are the priorities of draft evaders and the corrupt,” it added.
Ahead of the debate, opposition leader Yair Lapid said that lawmakers from his Yesh Atid party would attend the committee meeting to oppose the transfer of the funds.
“We will not give up. Ever! We will stop this money, return to power, establish a good government, and fix the national order of priorities,” Lapid claimed.
Lazimi and Yesh Atid MKs Noar Shiri, Vladimir Beliak, Moshe Tur-Paz, and Meirav Cohen joined the discussion. They asked representatives from both the Finance and Education ministries for details regarding the allocation of the funds.
Their questions focused specifically on the issue of haredi schools not complying with core curriculum requirements to teach subjects such as Math and English.
MK Moshe Gafni from the haredi United Torah Judaism party claimed that he had been “warning for years that transfers must be brought in on time and not approved retroactively.”
He criticized the decision to reapprove the funds to the haredi institutions at the opening of the debate, stating that “the absurd reality is that we are now required to revisit only one transfer – to ultra-Orthodox education.”Lazami responded, “There are no words left” after Gafni’s statement.
She also said that 22 ultra-Orthodox schools would be removed from the Shas and United Torah Judaism education networks due to failure to meet core curriculum requirements. However, this would only occur at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, and until then, they would continue to receive full state funding, Lazami said.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.
Source:
www.jpost.com
