Knesset Finance Committee votes to transfer hundreds of millions of shekels to Settlements Ministry

By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff 4 August 2026, 11:00 pm

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Finance Committee chair MK Hanoch Milwidsky leads a committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, June 9, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Hours after approving the allocation of over a quarter billion shekels ($82.6 million) in coalition funds to the ultra-Orthodox education system, lawmakers on the Knesset Finance Committee vote to reallocate hundreds of millions of shekels to the Settlement Ministry as well as around NIS 330 million ($109 million) for grants to communities along the Lebanon border as part of an approximately NIS 1 billion ($332 million) change to the 2026 state budget.

The Settlements Ministry is set to receive NIS 157 million ($52 million) in direct funding as well as NIS 142 million ($47 million) in commitment authorizations, according to a statement released by the committee.

An additional NIS 78 million ($25.8 million) will go to the Religious Services Ministry to pay for increased staffing levels, budget additions to rabbinical courts and other operational needs.

Opposition lawmakers on the Finance Committee had temporarily managed to block the massive funding allocations for Haredi education, as well as for the Settlements Ministry, with a filibuster in a marathon session last Wednesday that extended past the 10 hours allowed for parliamentary meetings during a recess.

The Knesset House Committee had designated the Wednesday session ahead of time as the last one of the recess period in which items could be put on the Finance Committee agenda without prior agreement between the opposition and coalition.

But on Sunday, after unspecified “heavy pressure” from the coalition, Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik said the Finance Committee could reconvene to vote on the timed-out amendments.