High Court: State must respond by tomorrow to petition against transfer of NIS 1 billion to Haredi schools

By Sam Sokol 30 December 2025, 3:53 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"

Supreme Court Justice Yael Willner (C) at a court hearing on who will have authority over the Sde Teiman leak probe, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 11, 2025 (Yonatan SIndel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice orders the state to respond by 8 a.m. tomorrow to a petition by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid against the transfer of some NIS 1 billion ($314 million) to ultra-Orthodox schools out of what is left of the 2025 state budget.

Lapid’s Yesh Atid party requested a preliminary injunction blocking the transfer of the funds, which were approved by the Knesset Finance Committee last week.

The decision would see school networks affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties receive NIS 786 million ($247 million) while NIS 136 million ($43 million) would go to to so-called “recognized but unofficial” schools, which commit to teaching 75 percent of the core curriculum but in practice often do not. Talmud Torahs, which do not teach the core curriculum, would receive an additional NIS 151 million ($47 million).

Responding to the suit earlier today, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf declared in a statement that Lapid had proved “that the only fuel driving him is hatred of the ultra-Orthodox.”