Coalition transfers $25 million to Religious Services Ministry, despite cross-government cuts to fund war

By Ariela Karmel

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11 September 2025, 7:23 pm

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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.

The coalition-controlled Knesset Finance Committee approves the transfer of NIS 80 million ($24.2 million) to the Religious Services Ministry, as the government simultaneously moves to slash spending across ministries to fund ballooning wartime needs.

Much of the new funding will go toward activities for religious councils, including establishing five new ones, bodies that provide jobs for political activists — particularly from ultra-Orthodox party Shas — and funnel resources to religious institutions, in addition to the annual pilgrimage to Mount Meron on Lag Ba’Omer, housing expenses for Chief Rabbis, and other ministry activities.

At the same time, the Knesset voted yesterday to advance an across-the-board 3.35% cut to ministerial budgets starting next year, part of a NIS 31 billion ($9 billion) wartime spending package. Most of the additional funds are slated for defense, with NIS 1.6 billion ($473 million) for humanitarian aid in Gaza.

While most ministries face impending cuts, critics note, significant sums are still being channeled to coalition-linked allies, in this case, Shas.

“The religious councils are a political body effectively controlled by Shas,” says ITIM CEO Rabbi Seth Farber, who, along with local authority leaders, has called for their closure. “The Ministry of Religious Services operates based on political interests and chooses to strengthen and expand the religious councils.”

The allocation is on top of the government’s recent approval of NIS 40 million ($11.9 million) in state funding for ultra-Orthodox schools tied to Shas’s Bnei Yosef network.