Jerusalem municipality uses taxpayer money to fund jeep tours for Haredi families
Hundreds of thousands of shekels earmarked for religious education spent on off-road wilderness tours for ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemites, sparking allegations of corruption in city government
The Jerusalem Municipality spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer shekels on subsidized jeep tours for Haredi families during the intermediate days of Passover, a report this weekend showed.
The off-road jaunts through the Judean Hills wilderness were funded by the municipality’s Torah Culture Department, whose budget is meant to be used solely for Torah study and religious events.
The stated aim of the tours, according to the program’s budget obtained by the Kan public broadcaster, was to provide “education and familiarity with Jerusalem’s forests and surroundings.”
The report sparked criticism from residents and city officials, who said that using public money to subsidize ultra-Orthodox families’ holiday getaways was a flagrant misuse of funds, if not corruption.
The municipality, though, insisted that everything had been done according to the rules and guidelines for the department’s budget.
Responding to the report, the municipality likened the tours to several other city-funded Passover activities, including a table tennis tournament held for the public at large and communal travel activities for Jerusalem’s religious Zionist community.
According to the report, the municipality footed 80 percent of the tours’ cost through the city budget.
מאות משפחות אברכים עולות בימי חול המועד על ג'יפים לטיול מטורף בין הרי ירושלים ביוזמת מחזיק תיק תרבות תורנית דוד בלומנשטוק, עשרות ג'יפים יוצאים כל יום מעמק הארזים למסלול שטח עוצמתי וחווייתי. הדיבור בירושלים ברור: זה האטרקציה הכי לוהטת של חול המועד pic.twitter.com/0udcnAeDpR
— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) April 17, 2025
Tickets were sold to some 3,500 people at a subsidized price of NIS 20 ($5), and the municipality only took in NIS 70,000 ($19,000) from sales.
In total, the cost of the trips amounted to around NIS 354,000 ($96,000), so the amount coming from the city budget added up to just over NIS 284,000 ($77,000).
Former Jerusalem City councilman Ron Lerman suggested that the case was just the “tip of the iceberg” of the municipality’s misuse of public funds.
In a post on X, he cast blame on a professional committee that grants relatively small amounts of money to outside suppliers, while circumventing the complex, often drawn-out tender process.
The quasi-municipal committee can also hire special experts and transfer budgetary funds to bodies subordinate to the city council, but is not subject to any oversight by elected officials.
“It is impossible to investigate how many millions are going toward additional problematic causes that don’t fulfill their intended purpose, how much money is not actually going toward residents, and how well certain neighborhoods are cared for compared to others,” he wrote.
The Times of Israel Community.