Hesder Yeshiva Budget to Education Ministry?

Former Member of Knesset Nissan Slomiansky expressed concern Thursday over a proposal to transfer funding of the Hesder Yeshiva program from the Defense Ministry to the Education Ministry. Interviewed by Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service, the former head of the National Religious Party's Knesset faction warned that the move carried the risk of funding for the Hesder program, which combines Jewish studies with military service, being allocated to non-Hesder yeshivas.

Rabbi Slomiansky said the Defense Ministry has been trying to transfer the 21-million-shekel budget for two years. He told a joint meeting of the Finance and Foreign Affairs/Defense committees this week that it was as illogical to send the Hesder program to the Education Ministry as it would be to send the budget for the Nachal program, which combines military service and farming, to the Agriculture Ministry. Slomiansky attributed the move to the political weakness of the religious sector of the population.