Haredi body responsible for coordinating draft deferments won’t recieve money under 2025 budget

By Sam Sokol 23 March 2025, 2:27 pm

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Sam 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"

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block Route 4, near Bnei Brak in central Israel, during a protest against the conscription of Haredim to the IDF, January 9, 2025. (AP Photo/ Oded Balilty)

The Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordination between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry in matters of service deferments will not receive any money under the 2025 state budget, a representative of the Education Ministry tells lawmakers.

Responding to questions from members of the Knesset Finance Committee, Amos Sayada, the head of the ministry’s Torah Institutions Division, says that the so-called Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee) ceased receiving government funding, following the High Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

According to Guidestar, a center that provides information on nonprofit organizations in Israel, the Yeshiva Committee has long enjoyed government backing. In 2023, it received NIS 4,463,806 ($1.2 million) in state funding, totaling 67.4 percent of its annual budget.

Earlier this month, the cabinet voted to approve billions in coalition funds, including NIS 8 million ($2.2 million) for coordination and liaison bodies — a reference to groups that arrange military exemptions.

Speaking with The Times of Israel in early March, a spokesman for Haim Biton (Shas), a minister within the Education Ministry, said that the money was intended for the Yeshiva Committee. However, he said that it would only receive money if the Knesset manages to pass a law providing service exemptions for yeshiva students.

“For now, the money is on the shelf. You can’t touch it,” he said at the time.

Asked if any of the money budgeted for such groups would go to the Vaad HaYeshivot, Sayada responds in the negative.

A recent Times of Israel investigation found that the Vaad HaYeshivot has been actively advising yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders.

“The guidance of the sages is unchanged: Do not report under any circumstances and do not cooperate. Of course, according to the law, there is an obligation to report, but these are the instructions of the sages,” the group emailed one yeshiva student who reached out for advice about how to respond to an enlistment order.