Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved the allocation of NIS 5 billion ($1.3 billion) in coalition funds on Tuesday evening, less than a month before the legal deadline for the passage of the 2025 state budget.

The cabinet vote was held without Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is on a visit to Washington. Coalition funds are money allocated during the budget-planning process based on agreements struck between the parties during coalition negotiations.

In addition to over a billion shekels for yeshivas, various Haredi institutions and causes received hundreds of millions in additional funding, as did, to a lesser extent, national religious causes.

Among the items approved were NIS 25 million ($6.9 million) for far-right anti-LGBT politician Avi Maoz’s Jewish National Identity Authority, NIS 94 million ($25.9 million) for the World Zionist Organization’s settlement division and NIS 40 million ($11 million) for security in West Bank settlements.

NIS 1.27 billion ($351 million) was approved for ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, NIS 75 million ($20.7 million) for Haredi women’s seminaries, NIS 87 million ($24 million) for strengthening Jewish identity, NIS 60 million ($16.5 million) for yeshivas for overseas students, and NIS 2.9 million ($792,000) for matters relating to Jewish “family purity” laws.

The coalition funds also include NIS 28 million ($7.7 million) for programs to prevent Haredim from dropping out of yeshivas and NIS 8 million ($2.2 million) for “coordination and liaison........

© The Times of Israel