Deri: Shas won’t support 2026 budget until Haredi kids get food-stamp funds

Ultra-Orthodox party head accuses Finance Ministry of altering criteria to exclude ultra-Orthodox; $86 million were promised to Shas in 2025 as part of coalition agreement

By Ariela Karmel

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9 December 2025, 2:53 am

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Shas chief MK Aryeh Deri, seated right at head of the table, is seen during a a meeting of the faction at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

MK Aryeh Deri has said his Shas party will not support the government’s 2026 budget over the Finance Ministry’s failure to fund a food-stamp program for low-income Haredi children.

The NIS 277 million ($86 million) program was promised to the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party in the 2025 budget as part of a coalition deal.

“Shas will not support the budget as a protest against the deliberate exclusion of Haredi children from the food stamp program,” said the Shas chief in a faction meeting at the Knesset on Sunday. “It is unacceptable that a poor Haredi child would not receive the minimum support as a poor Arab child does, as demanded by the Finance Ministry.”

“Last year, the food stamp program helped 400,000 eligible families across all sectors: immigrants, the elderly, Arabs, the periphery, and Haredim, all according to criteria set by government ministries,” said Deri, accusing the Finance Ministry of altering criteria to exclude ultra-Orthodox families.

“As long as this issue is not resolved, Shas will not support the budget,” he said.

According to Hebrew media reports, Shas and Degel HaTorah — the non-Hasidic faction of the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism — have also told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they would not support the budget until the government codifies Haredi yeshiva students’ exemption from military service.

The 2026 budget, which the cabinet approved Friday, must advance through the Knesset by March.

If the ultra-Orthodox parties refuse to vote in favor of the budget, and the government is unable to pass it, the Knesset will dissolve automatically, triggering early elections that would take place in June 2026, instead of October as planned.