This is a true revolution. Religious studies will now receive a worthy place in the annual budget.
The Likud agreed Sunday to one of the National Union’s demands to join the coalition – to make yeshiva funding a priority of the state budget. While funding to yeshivas will not increase, it will now be considered a basic component of the annual Israeli budget.
In addition, funds will be dished out to yeshivas on a set date each month. Until now, the Finance Ministry was able to change the date on which yeshivas received funding at will.
The change affects yeshivas of all types; hareidi yeshivas, hesder yeshivas – where students combine religious studies with military duty – and pre-military academies, in which students learn for one year before signing up to the army for three.
Israel pays out almost one billion shekels every year to yeshivas across the country.
National Union leader Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz, formerly the head of the Beit El yeshiva, praised the decision. “This is a true revolution. Religious studies will now receive a worthy place in the annual budget,” he explained.
As part of the coalition negotiations, the National Union has also demanded that Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu clearly state his opposition to a Palestinian Authority state, and that the government pledge that it will support communities in Judea and Samaria.