MK Ze'ev Elkin
MK Ze'ev ElkinFile Photo
In response to Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Labor) withholding 22 million shekels from Hesder yeshivot, where students combine Torah study with military service in the IDF, member of Knesset Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) said Friday that he will withhold three billion shekels from the defense ministry until it releases the money it is currently keeping from the Hesder yeshiva program.

Elkin, who sits on the Knesset Finance Committee, told Israel National News that the defense ministry’s behavior is apparently connected to the public opposition of Hesder yeshiva rabbis to their students’ participation in the expulsion of Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria. “If someone in the defense ministry thinks he can blackmail the Hesder yeshivot, he must understand that he will have a fight on his hands.”

Elkin also conditioned releasing money to the defense ministry on Defense Minister Barak ensuring the protection of Jewish travelers on roads in Judea and Samaria, something the lawmaker claims the IDF has been lax in but was solved earlier this week.