Following a discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the agreement with Yitzhak Goldknopf's Agudat Israel was completed. According to the agreement, NIS 250 million will be transferred to Haredi educational institutions already this year, but through a budget transfer after the budget is approved. Initially, Torah Judaism demanded about 600 million shekels, a sum that also includes money for Avrachim.
According to the ultra-Orthodox's demand, since the budget passes in June, they are asking for an additional NIS 670 million for retroactive payments from the beginning of the year to yeshivas and Avrachim. So each student will receive NIS 1,173 every month.
Behind the scenes, Goldknopf said in his meetings with Netanyahu and the Finance Ministry: "Kollel leaders took loans based on the sum of NIS 1173 per Avrach, as we promised them in the coalition agreements. There is nowhere to pay this money now, we have to bring the money we promised to."
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich,
The Likud said in a statement after the meeting: "In accordance with the agreement, it was decided that the budget framework will not be breached and the budget book will not be opened. The cost - up to NIS 250 million depending on the agreement with Torah Judaism. Avrachim will receive a one-time grant from the beginning of the year until June, which will fill the gap in the monthly payment. If supplementary budgets are required, they will come only from untapped surpluses of coalition funds from Haredi education."
The agreement was born out of threats by the Minister of Construction and Housing, who said that if no solution was found on the issue of payments to yeshivas, he would resign, return to the Knesset and vote against the budget. "They keep telling us, 'Is this what you're going to topple a right-wing government on?!' They asked us to give up and soften the chametz law, then we waived the Deri law, the override clause was also dropped from the agenda, and we even gave up on the request to pass the draft law with the budget. Now they want us to give up our money in education, so why are we sitting in the government if everything is told 'you can't'?!" senior Torah Judaism officials told Israel Hayom.
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