The government will approve an additional NIS 164 million in funds for yeshiva students on Sunday, by drawing funds from the reserve budgets of all the government ministries, Israeli media reported on Saturday night.
The additional funds include NIS 79 million for the expansion of support to yeshiva students, NIS 51 million for an increase in the number of yeshiva students, NIS 15 million for yeshiva students who are not Israeli citizens, and NIS 19.53 million for seminary students, torah learning institutions in communities near the Gaza border, and torah learning institutions which encourage army service.
Where will the money come from?
The money for additional funds to seminary students will be taken from a budget set aside for the infrastructure and renovation of hesder yeshivot and yeshivot that encourage IDF service, according to a draft of the decision.
The draft decision also states that the funds for haredi yeshiva students will be taken from funds taken from all the government ministries earlier and placed in reserve funds.
Prayer at the Belz Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Belz is a Hassidic dynasty founded in the Ukrainian town of Belz. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)Yossi Fuchs, the cabinet secretary, responded to the reports on Saturday night, stating that reports stating that an additional NIS 164 million was being taken from the budgets of all the ministries were incorrect and that the decision was only to use funds that were already taken in a cut from all the ministries in February as a source for the budget for an addition to the funds for yeshiva students that was already agreed upon earlier.
Earlier in July, KAN reported that the government was planning to increase the funds provided to yeshiva students by over NIS 100 million, due to complaints by the haredi parties that the funds had not been increased enough in earlier decisions.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the reports of the new funds, tweeting “When we appealed to the government to prevent a cut in the hours of special education for children with disabilities, the answer was that ‘there is no money.’ Tonight they announced that they would cut from all government ministries to add NIS 164 million to Torah institutions. This is a government that has no heart.”
Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Struck responded to the reports as well, tweeting “The support budget for girls’ seminaries will be increased. We see enormous value in Torah study for girls, and therefore on the eve of the elections we promised both the female students and the heads of the seminaries that we would increase government support for this study. Tomorrow we will be able to fulfill this promise – because what you vote for is what you get.”
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