Israel's High Court of Justice has frozen most of the budget transfers approved by the Knesset Finance Committee on Tuesday, allocating funds for Haredi education and settlement ministries, according to reports. The Haredi parties' election campaign thanked the court for the decision.
The Haredi parties' election campaign responded to the High Court's budget freeze with a single word: 'Thank you,' as relayed by journalist Yoeli Brim. The response came after the court blocked most of the budget transfers approved by the Knesset Finance Committee on Tuesday for Haredi education and settlement ministries.
The High Court's intervention began at 12:12 Jerusalem on Wednesday, when duty judge Alex Stein issued an interim order freezing the transfers due to procedural flaws, as reported by Channel 14. Within minutes, the court clarified that the freeze applied to coalition funds for Haredi parties and the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions, headed by Orit Strock. The Zioneer reported on the development at 12:29 Jerusalem.
The frozen funds, totaling approximately NIS 1 billion according to The Jerusalem Post, were part of a broader package of coalition transfers approved in a contentious Finance Committee session on Tuesday. The transfers had drawn opposition criticism as excessive during an election period, and the Finance Committee session had been stalled earlier by Haredi boycotts over the daycare funding bill, as The Zioneer reported on June 16.
The court's order is interim, and further proceedings are expected.
8 developments
Source and signal
- Open-source intake