From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Deri, Gafni hail budget achievements for ultra-Orthodox, distance themselves from Goldknopf’s opposition
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni appear to distance themselves from UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf’s opposition to the 2025 state budget, releasing a joint statement celebrating the Haredi camp’s “dramatic achievements” in increasing government funding of their institutions.
Gafni leads UTJ’s non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah faction while Goldknopf heads its Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction, as well as the party as a whole.
On Tuesday evening, the cabinet approved approved the allocation of NIS 5 billion ($1.3 billion) in coalition funds — including NIS 1.27 billion ($351 million) for ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and hundreds of millions for various other Haredi institutions. The allocations were passed unanimously, with the exception of Goldknopf, who objected to the fact that the funds were not included in the base budget for 2025.
Goldknopf has repeatedly threatened to oppose the budget unless a law exempting yeshiva students is passed first, pitting him against Deri and Gafni, both of whom are willing to wait until after the budget’s passage to advance the law to its final readings.
In their statement, Deri and Gafni welcome the approval of the coalition funds, arguing that the fact that the full amount of the yeshiva funds will ultimately be included in the base budget starting in 2026 is a victory brought about by years of stubborn fighting on their parties’ part.
“We welcome the historic achievement of introducing NIS 1 billion from the yeshiva budget into the budget base, a step that expresses the righting of a great injustice and the official recognition by the state of the value of Torah study. In addition, the move will ensure stability and long-term planning ability for the administrators of [Torah] institutions,” the pair state.
They add that the issue of conscription of yeshiva students “keeps us awake at night.”
“Under the guidance of [our rabbis] we are continuing to work determinedly to settle the issue – and we will not rest or be silent until every threat to Torah students in Israel is removed,” they assert.
The Times of Israel Community.