Levin Calls Court Freeze on Chareidi Education Funds ‘Deliberate Harm,’ Urges Action Against High Court

Israel’s justice minister, Yariv Levin, on Wednesday sharply criticized a High Court interim order freezing roughly NIS 1 billion in government funding earmarked for chareidi education, calling on chareidi lawmakers to take immediate steps against the judiciary.

Earlier in the day, Yael Wilner issued an interim injunction halting the transfer of funds to chareidi educational institutions. The decision sparked furious reactions from chareidi members of Knesset, with Levin later joining the condemnation.

“I am joining the protests of my United Torah Judaism colleagues over the High Court’s decision regarding chareidi educational institutions,” Levin wrote in a public post. He urged lawmakers not to stop at statements alone, but to announce their immediate support for advancing a series of judicial reform bills that, he said, have been stalled in the Knesset for months.

“This is the best response to the deliberate harm being inflicted on the chareidi public,” Levin concluded.

Following the High Court’s move, the Yesh Atid party said it would not be satisfied with the interim injunction alone and plans to demand an expanded remedy. According to the party, the court should require chareidi teachers to return funds already received earlier in the day, since part of the frozen allocation had reportedly been transferred before the injunction took effect.

The chairman of Degel HaTorah, MK Moshe Gafni, responded with unusually harsh language, declaring that “the court has declared war on the chareidi public and on Torah institutions.” He accused the justices of intentionally harming educators’ livelihoods and damaging the entire system, vowing, “We will do everything to restore the situation to what it was.”

Shas likewise denounced the ruling, branding it “antisemitic harassment.” In a statement, the party said the High Court was “rampaging like a reckless driver on a crowded road, brutally and unprecedentedly running over the chareidi public — from robbing young children of their daily bread to undermining Torah study and the education of tens of thousands of students.”

“There are no judges in Yerushalayim, only a dangerous group of arsonists,” the statement continued, accusing the court of taking the chareidi community “hostage” in a desperate effort to preserve its waning power. Shas called on Jews worldwide to raise an outcry against what it termed “this antisemitic persecution,” adding that “the chareidi public will stand firm, like an impenetrable wall, against these malicious decisions.”

{Matzav.com}