Israel’s Supreme Court issued an interim injunction on Wednesday ordering the suspension of financial transfers, totaling more than 1 billion shekels, to ultra-Orthodox education institutions under a decision by the Knesset Finance Committee, until further notice. The petition filed by the Yesh Atid party, will be heard by a judicial panel no later than January 8.
“450 million shekels are already in the accounts of teachers who haven’t been paid until now. What will they do now, go and take it back from them? It would be easier to draft the entire Ponevezh yeshiva,” a Haredi source said Wednesday.
“I’m pleased to share encouraging news from the High Court,” Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wrote on X. “Following the petition I filed on Tuesday together with Knesset members Vladimir Beliak, Naor Shiri and Moshe Kinley Tur-Paz, an interim order was issued freezing the transfer of more than 1,090,000,000 shekels that were transferred illegally to Haredi institutions. We will continue to fight for the working and serving public.”
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United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopfand Degel HaTorah leader Moshe Gafni
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Yesh Atid filed the petition on Tuesday morning against the transfer of the funds to ultra-Orthodox institutions, after Lapid claimed the money was allocated unlawfully. The party said in a statement: “1,090,000,000 shekels is the amount the coalition stole from Israeli citizens for unsupervised Haredi institutions, in violation of the law. Yesh Atid petitioned the High Court this morning against the theft. We will not allow a rotten, corrupt and wasteful government to use our money as political bribery to solve coalition problems.”
In response, United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf attacked Lapid, saying: “Yair Lapid once again proves that the only fuel driving him is hatred of the Haredim. The petition to the High Court is another attempt to harm the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of parents and children whose only ‘crime’ is their desire to preserve their way of life and their ancestors’ tradition. The funds in question passed all the required professional and legal approvals, and their purpose is to correct a historic discrimination in the budgeting of exempt institutions and recognized but unofficial education.”
“We are confident the court will reject this political attempt to interfere in the government’s legitimate budgetary decisions,” Goldknopf added. “We will continue to stand guard to ensure that every child in Israel receives what he deserves, without discrimination between sectors. We will not allow Haredi children to be turned into second-class citizens.”
Knesset lawmaker Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism said: “Now it is absolutely clear, beyond any doubt, that the judicial system is not interested in security needs. It is at war against anything sacred.” He warned that “no legal proceeding will prevent us from passing on the tradition of Israel from generation to generation.”
Degel HaTorah leader Moshe Gafni said: “The court has declared war on the Haredi public and Torah institutions. The wickedness of the judges in harming the livelihood of teaching staff and damaging the entire system will not be forgiven, nor will the evil petitioners be absolved. It turns out there is no democracy in the State of Israel. The judges make decisions according to their own worldview, unrelated to the issues themselves or to the professional decisions made by the government and the Knesset. We will do everything to restore the situation to what it was.”
The Shas party said in a statement: “The High Court is rampaging like a reckless driver on a busy road, cruelly and unprecedentedly running over the Haredi public. From robbing young children of their daily bread to harming Torah study and the education of tens of thousands of students. There are no judges in Jerusalem, only a dangerous group of arsonists who, in their desperate struggle to save their crumbling rule, chose to take the Haredi public hostage. We call on Jews around the world to raise an outcry against this antisemitic harassment.”
Shas leader Aryeh Deri spoke Wednesday evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that upon his return from the United States he immediately convene the ministerial team established to address Haredi education and mobilize all forces and resources to fight the decision. According to Deri’s office, Netanyahu responded that he fully backs the demand and will act to convene the ministers as soon as he returns.
Shas lawmaker Moshe Arbel said Wednesday that he “invites the ‘Bagatz (lawsuit) Party’ to unite with Yesh Atid and run in the 26th Knesset elections, and if they pass the electoral threshold, influence things from within.”
On Thursday, the Knesset Finance Committee, chaired by Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky, approved an addition of more than 1 billion shekels to Haredi education networks: 426 million shekels for United Torah Judaism’s Independent Education network; 360 million for Shas’ Maayan HaChinuch HaTorani; 136 million for “recognized but unofficial” institutions, including 75 million in coalition funds; 151 million for exempt institutions; 64 million for support of Torah institutions; 2 million in coalition funds for Torah research institutes; 32 million in coalition funds for support of religious services; and additional allocations.