Israel's High Court of Justice has frozen coalition budget transfers to Haredi parties that were approved by the Knesset Finance Committee, Israel Hayom reports.
Israel's High Court of Justice has frozen coalition budget transfers to Haredi parties and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, according to reports. The funds, which include allocations for the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions, were approved by the Knesset Finance Committee on Tuesday. The court's interim order, issued by duty judge Alex Stein, halts the disbursement of hundreds of millions of shekels in coalition agreements.
The court action unfolded rapidly on Wednesday. Initially, Judge Stein issued an interim order blocking the budget transfers approved by the Finance Committee. The High Court then clarified that the freeze applies to coalition funds for Haredi parties, and later expanded the order to include budget transfers to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. All rulings were published within minutes of each other.
The budget dispute has been a source of coalition tension for weeks. As The Zioneer reported on June 16, Haredi parties boycotted a Finance Committee hearing over the stalled daycare funding bill. On July 29, the opposition used a filibuster to block a NIS 392 million transfer to Haredi parties and the Settlement Ministry, and the Finance Committee closed its budget discussion early, leaving out key allocations. The court's intervention comes amid ongoing coalition infighting over the state budget.
The interim freeze remains in effect pending further court proceedings. The coalition's options to resume the transfers are unclear.
8 developments
Source and signal
- Open-source intake