Lapid petitions High Court to halt billion-shekel transfer to ultra-Orthodox schools

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday gave the government until 8 a.m.  Wednesday to respond to a petition by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party demanding an “urgent interim injunction” against the transfer of some NIS 1 billion ($314 million) to ultra-Orthodox schools out of what is left of the 2025 state budget.

Last week, the Knesset Finance Committee approved the transfer of NIS 786 million ($247 million) to school networks affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, and NIS 136 million ($43 million) to so-called “recognized but unofficial” schools, which commit to teaching 75 percent of the state-set core curriculum but in practice often do not.

An additional NIS 151 million ($47 million) will also be allocated to Talmud Torahs, which do not teach the core curriculum.

In a statement, Yesh Atid said that the committee “took advantage of and circumvented all existing restrictions that prevent the transfer of budgets to institutions that are not supervised and do not teach core subjects,” condemning what it described as “a rotten, corrupt and wasteful government that does not count the citizens of Israel and sees our money as a bargaining chip and as political bribery to solve coalition problems.”

The transfers “were made illegally and are null and void,” the party argued.

This money is being stolen from the middle class and “transferred to ultra-Orthodox institutions in violation of the law, in an improper procedure, in an attempt to hide it from the public,” Lapid told reporters when announcing the petition ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset on Monday.

In its petition, Yesh Atid argued that the committee had violated existing restrictions on funding unsupervised institutions that do not teach legally mandated secular studies in approving the transfers, while at the same time rejecting a Finance Ministry request to allocate budgets for additional school inspectors to ensure that Haredi educational institutions are complying with the law.

“The partisan ultra-Orthodox education system is raising a new generation of ignorant people and draft dodgers, and the continued funding of institutions that do not teach core curriculum subjects constitutes an existential threat to Israel’s future as a strong and advanced state. This lawlessness must be stopped,” Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak told The Times of Israel.

According to fellow Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, the petition “focuses on noncompliance with the attorney general’s guidelines, which required the return of funds to the state for failing to teach budgeted core curriculum studies.”

Responding to the lawsuit, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf denounced Lapid, declaring in a statement that his actions “once again prove that the only fuel driving him is hatred of the ultra-Orthodox.”

“The petition to the High Court is yet another attempt to harm the fundamental rights of hundreds of thousands of parents and children whose only sin is their desire to preserve their way of life and the traditions of their forefathers,” said Goldknopf, adding that he was “confident that the court will reject this political attempt to interfere in the government’s legitimate budgetary decisions.”

“We will not allow Israel’s ultra-Orthodox children to be turned into second-class citizens,” he declared.

Hitting back, Lapid said that IDF conscription, studying English and mathematics and earning a living “is not ‘hatred of Haredim,'” arguing that he was working to ensure “that every child in Israel — including Haredi children — receives what they deserve, namely a proper education that includes core curriculum studies.”

“It won’t help you to shout ‘hatred of Haredim’ every time basic civic duties are demanded of you — duties that every Israeli citizen is required to fulfil,” he added.

Lapid’s lawsuit came a day after Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik lambasted Knesset Finance Committee Chair Hanoch Milwidsky for his conduct during a meeting on Sunday, in which he insulted and interrupted the committee’s legal adviser, Shlomit Erlich, prevented her from speaking, and then held votes on several budget transfers without a discussion in the absence of opposition figures.