The Knesset's Finance Committee is set to approve a massive transfer of funds from the 2023 budget on Tuesday for the benefit of haredi education and culture.
The plan seeks to transfer NIS 94 million for the sake of "Jewish culture", NIS 61 million to support yeshivas and their students, and NIS 32 million to boys' schools that don't teach core studies like Math and English.
Also in the plan is a transfer of NIS 155 million for the Education Ministry, NIS 75 million to pay teachers in recognized but unofficial haredi schools, NIS 40 million for extra teaching hours in independent education, and NIS 27 million for "deepening Torah and religious Zionist education".
These fund transfers follow the Finance Committee recently approving moving NIS 149 million from other ministries to the Religious Services Ministry and are part of the coalition agreements with the ultra-Orthodox parties.
The Finance Ministry's proposals for the transfer funds indicate that the money for next week's transfers will be taken from the Construction Supervision Unit and from the budget set aside to build new classrooms to hold more students.
Forces opposing
The changes to the budget were met with much criticism from the opposition.
"Just when we thought we'd reached the peak, we were told that next week, the coalition is expected to approve budget transfers of hundreds of millions of more shekels," said former finance minister Avigdor Liberman.
"The government continues to transfer huge amounts to [haredi] institutions at the expense of the general public. Now we're talking about a huge transfer of NIS 155 million from the budget that was intended for building new classrooms. These changes are unacceptable and need to be stopped immediately. It cannot be that every week essential civil services are cut for the sake of cynical and damaging political agreements. Israel's children will continue to be crammed into classrooms like sardines, and this government will continue to deal with small politics."
Labor MK Naama Lazimi
The Israel Beytenu leader went on to criticize the fact that the funds were meant for "institutions that don't teach core studies and supporting Torah studies at the expense of budgets that were meant for building new classrooms."
He ended by pledging that when the opposition gets back in power, it would cancel all the changes.
"We approved the state budget only three months ago, and I already don't remember what we voted on because today's budget is not at all the same as what we approved after all these changes," said Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak.
Beliak went on to accuse the Finance Ministry of breaking promises in order to enable the budget transfers.
"The Finance Ministry initially claimed the money wouldn't be transferred from the Construction Supervision Unit to religious institutions, and then after we insisted, they admitted that it would be taken from the unit but would be used by the Religious Services Ministry to supervise the construction of religious institutions," he charged. "The Religious Services Ministry doesn't have inspectors, so they tried to trick the MKs from the opposition because they assumed we don't read the papers."
"The government continues to transfer huge amounts to [haredi] institutions at the expense of the general public," said Labor MK Naama Lazimi. "Now we're talking about a huge transfer of NIS 155 million from the budget that was intended for building new classrooms. These changes are unacceptable and need to be stopped immediately. It cannot be that every week essential civil services are cut for the sake of cynical and damaging political agreements. Israel's children will continue to be crammed into classrooms like sardines, and this government will continue to deal with small politics."
Meanwhile, the Religious Services Ministry spent NIS six million special tours centering around the Selichot prayers leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, activities for Sukkot, and refreshments for people who will be learning Torah on Hoshana Raba (the seventh day of Sukkot).
"As part of my world view, I think it's important to make religious services accessible to the citizens of Israel," said Religious Services Minister Michael Malchieli. "In my budget policy, the supporting funds will help the religious councils light up the world of Judaism. The ministry's policy is to place the citizens in the center and give them good and accessible religious services."
"Supporting cultural events in the religious councils is a central part of the ministry's activities, and this support joins the great maintenance of religious buildings such as renovating and building mikvahs," said the ministry's Director-General Yehudah Avidan.