Coalition secures extra quarter-billion shekels for Haredi education; opposition alleges ‘theft’

Following hours of acrimonious debate, the Knesset Finance Committee votes to approve the allocation of over a quarter billion shekels ($82.6 million) in coalition funds to the ultra-Orthodox education system despite a legislative recess that started last month.

Addressing the committee, The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi calls the funding “theft from the serving public.”

Overall, the committee approved more than NIS 267 million ($88 million), including over NIS 12.5 million ($4 million) for Haredi culture as well as millions for transportation for students of Haredi party-affiliated school networks, teacher training and “coordination and liaison bodies” — an apparent reference to the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), a body that encouraged draft evasion.

The funds also include some NIS 26 million ($8.5 million) for preventing Haredim from dropping out of yeshivas, despite a 2025 announcement that the government would no longer finance the education of ultra-Orthodox youths who are studying at so-called “drop-out yeshivas” and decline to enlist in the IDF for their mandatory service.

Drop-out yeshivas are institutions designed to keep Haredi men who are not interested in full-time religious study within an ultra-Orthodox framework, to prevent them from leaving the community.


Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against the drafting of Haredi Jews outside the IDF Recruitment Center at Tel Hashomer, July 15, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The committee also authorizes funding for yeshivas that encourage military service as well as Haredi hesder yeshivas, which combine military service with Torah study.

Calling the vote a “significant achievement,” Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni states that “even in these complex times, when the world of Torah and education is facing difficult challenges, it is our duty to continue to care for Israel’s children and the Haredi education system. The budgets approved today are important news… and will help correct distortions and close gaps that have persisted for years.”

The funding was approved despite the fact that only a small fraction of ultra-Orthodox boys’ elementary schools teach core curriculum subjects as required by law.

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 ($32.75 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.