During a hearing held in the Jerusalem District Court in the class action brought by formerly observant individuals against the Ministry of Education and the haredi institutions, Justice Moshe Bar'am clarified that haredi institutions are not a party to the petition and asked the State Attorney's Office to remove them from the process.
The claim was filed two years ago by a group of people who renounced Torah observance claiming that by funding the haredi institutions, despite the absence core secular studies, the state denies haredi students the tools to cope during the course of their lives.
In response, the state tried to deflect responsibility onto the haredi institutions and submitted a third-party notice to those institutions, thereby trying to claim that the blame lies with haredi education and the parents who send their children to these institutions.
At the beginning of the hearing, the haredi institutions submitted a defense statement through the Kabiri, Nevo, Kedar, & Blum law firm, which proved that the claims filed against the haredi institutions have no legal or factual basis.
Indeed, at the beginning of the hearing, District Court Judge Moshe Bar'am, who presided, clarified that he tends to accept the institutions position and that he sees legal difficulties in the state's procedure, even before entering into substantive discussion.
"The State erred in submitting the third-party notice to the haredi institutions, who operated according to the law and provided quality education of the highest order while preserving the heritage of Israel, Judaism, and values," explained Keidar. "The haredi education system will not agree to be presented as flawed, when the opposite is true."
At the end of the hearing, the judge proposed to the State Attorney's Office to remove the haredi institutions from the petition and to continue the hearing on the merits of the prosecution.