Despite Knesset recess, finance panel set to allocate millions to Haredim, settlements
Opposition lawmakers and religious liberty group say additional funding for Haredi schools and Settlements Ministry constitutes 'electoral bribery'
The Knesset Finance Committee is set to vote on Tuesday on transferring hundreds of millions of shekels to Haredi and settler interests despite a legislative recess that started last month.
The agenda posted on the committee’s website shows it will vote on requests by the Prime Minister’s Office and Education Ministry to amend the 2026 state budget to include a slew of additional funding transfers, including over NIS 100 million ($32.75 million) for the Settlements Ministry and NIS 200 million ($65.5 million) for Haredi schools.
Opposition lawmakers on the Finance Committee had on Wednesday managed to block massive funding allocations for Haredi education and the Settlements Ministry in a marathon session that extended past the 10 hours allowed for parliamentary meetings during a recess.
The lawmakers accused the government of doling out benefits for supporters ahead of the October 27 election and delivered filibusters to prolong the session.
The gambit was also aided by internal disagreements between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — whose Religious Zionism party draws much of its support from the settlement movement — and ultra-Orthodox parties over the distribution of coalition funds between their respective constituencies.
The Knesset House Committee had designated the Wednesday session ahead of time as the last one of the recess period in which items could be put on the Finance Committee agenda without prior agreement between the opposition and coalition.
But on Sunday, after unspecified “heavy pressure” from the coalition, Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik said the Finance Committee could reconvene to vote on the timed-out amendments.
The opposition has vowed to prevent the Tuesday meeting from taking place.
The Hiddush religious liberty non-profit, writing on behalf of opposition Finance Committee members Naama Lazimi and Orit Farkash-Hacohen, said in a letter to committee chief Hanoch Milwidsky on Monday that the controversial amendments constitute possible “electoral bribery” and “flagrantly depart” from the government’s duties in an election season.
The Finance Committee has previously sought to divert funds to Haredi institutions despite legal and procedural objections. In March, it approved nearly NIS 100 million ($32.75 million) for Haredi educational institutions as part of a broader NIS 1 billion ($331 million) transfer that had been frozen by the High Court of Justice in December, after opposition lawmakers argued that the government was funding schools that do not teach the core curriculum required by law.
Haredi parties demanded massive cash infusions following a landmark June 2024 High Court ruling that found the decades-long Haredi exemption from military service lacked legal basis. The ruling led to the abrogation of certain Haredi social benefits.