Knesset finance panel to vote on transferring millions to Haredi community, West Bank settlements, despite recess — report

By Sam Sokol 2 August 2026, 8:42 pm

Edit

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"

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

The Knesset Finance Committee is scheduled to convene on Tuesday, despite the current legislative recess, to vote on transferring hundreds of millions of shekels from the 2026 state budget to the ultra-Orthodox and West Bank settlements, Channel 12 reports.

Last Wednesday, opposition lawmakers blocked the transfer of an approximately NIS 392 million ($116 million) budget earmarked primarily for Haredi education and the Settlements Ministry, preventing a vote after an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee marathon session ran past the allotted time allowed for parliamentary meetings during a recess.

The transfers failed to secure approval due to a filibuster by opposition lawmakers, who deliberately prolonged the debate. Opposition lawmakers accused the government of trying to further shore up the ruling coalition ahead of the election by doling out public funds to political allies.

The gambit was also aided by internal disagreements between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — whose Religious Zionism party draws much of its support from the settlement movement — and ultra-Orthodox parties over the distribution of coalition funds between their respective constituencies.

The Finance Committee has previously sought to divert funds to Haredi institutions despite legal and procedural objections. In March, it approved nearly NIS 100 million ($33 million) for Haredi educational institutions as part of a broader NIS 1 billion ($331 million) transfer that had been frozen by the High Court of Justice in December, after opposition lawmakers argued that the government was funding schools that do not teach the core curriculum required by law.