Following hours of acrimonious debate, the Knesset Finance Committee voted on Tuesday 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.

The move drew immediate rebuke from the opposition, with Democrats MK Naama Lazimi telling the committee that the the funding was simply “theft from the serving public,” a reference to those who serve in the military and pay taxes.

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 has 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 refuse 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.

The committee also authorized funding for yeshivas that encourage military service as well as Haredi hesder yeshivas, which combine military service with Torah study and are largely affiliated with the national religious........

© The Times of Israel