After an eight-hour marathon session, the Knesset Finance Committee on Tuesday approved the transfer of approximately 100 million shekels to chareidi education networks, ending a prolonged standoff marked by a filibuster and sharp criticism from coalition lawmakers.
The funding had previously been frozen by the High Court of Justice following a petition by the Yesh Atid party, after it was discovered that the money had been transferred before receiving the required procedural approval from the committee. The measure ultimately passed unanimously after opposition members, who had conducted a lengthy filibuster throughout the day, walked out of the room just before the vote.
MK Moshe Gafni, chairman of Degel HaTorah, used the debate to sharply criticize what he described as selective enforcement against the chareidi sector. “For years I warned that these transfers need to be brought in on time,” Gafni said, before adding pointedly, “The reality is that here they are talking about only one transfer to chareidi education, while on that same day there were 30 other transfers. Among them were also the salaries of the judges who issued this ruling.”
During the discussion, Shai Calderon, the official in charge of chareidi education at the Education Ministry, presented detailed figures on student enrollment for the 2025–2026 academic year.
According to the data, the Chinuch Atzmai network currently serves 128,935 students across 271 institutions, while the Maayan HaChinuch HaTorani network affiliated with Shas enrolls 61,503 students in 267 institutions. Coalition members pointed to these numbers to underscore what they described as the urgent need to release funding for the hundreds of thousands of children studying in these frameworks.
Article title says $100 million
First paragraph says 100 million shekels