Yesh Atid seeks High Court action against transfer of some NIS 1 billion to Haredi schools

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party petitions the High Court of Justice for an “urgent interim injunction” against the transfer of some NIS 1 billion ($314 million) to ultra-Orthodox schools out of what is left of the 2025 state budget.

Last week, the Knesset Finance Committee last week approved the transfer of NIS 786 million ($247 million) to school networks affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties and NIS 136 million ($43 million) 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 are exempt from teaching the core curriculum will receive NIS 151 million ($47 million).

“The Finance Committee took advantage of and circumvented all existing restrictions that prevent the transfer of budgets to institutions that are not supervised and do not teach core subjects. The petition joins a long-standing struggle against a rotten, corrupt and wasteful government that does not count the citizens of Israel and sees our money as a bargaining chip and as political bribery to solve coalition problems,” Yesh Atid says in a statement, arguing that the transfers “were made illegally and are null and void.”