The High Court of Justice on Wednesday temporarily froze nearly all budget transfers approved by the Knesset Finance Committee a day earlier, citing apparent procedural flaws in the way the committee’s election-recess meeting was held.
Justice Alex Stein ordered that the transfers not be implemented, with the exception of an allocation relating to civilian emergency expenses.
He ordered that the petition be brought before a three-justice panel as soon as possible. Finance Committee chairman Hanoch Milwidsky, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and the Finance Ministry were ordered to submit preliminary responses after a hearing is scheduled.
The committee approved approximately NIS 1 billion in allocations for the Education Ministry, the National Missions Ministry and the Religious Services Ministry during a lengthy and stormy meeting on Tuesday.
Approximately NIS 270 million was reportedly allocated to haredi education.
The High Court of Justice in Jerusalem (credit: OREN BEN HAKOON/ISRAEL HAYOM/POOL)Ohana authorized the committee to meet during the recess despite the absence of the agreement ordinarily required from the Knesset’s Coordination Committee. Opposition lawmakers argued that the committee had already used the single meeting it was permitted to hold during the first two weeks of the recess when it convened on July 29.
The petition was filed by Hiddush - Freedom of Religion for Israel and Democrats MK Naama Lazimi after Milwidsky declined to cancel the meeting in response to a warning letter.
The petitioners also argued that several of the budget requests had not been discussed before the Knesset entered recess and accused the outgoing coalition of attempting to direct public money toward politically allied sectors shortly before the election.
Those claims have not yet been decided by the court.
“We warned in advance that we would not allow a daylight robbery of public funds,” Lazimi said following the order.
She called the decision “an important achievement” against what she described as an effort by the outgoing coalition to establish facts on the ground before the election.
Democrats chairman Yair Golan called the order a victory for “the serving, working and Zionist public,” while Hiddush legal adviser Dr. Yifat Sollel accused the coalition of using the recess meeting to advance political interests.
Degel Hatorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni had welcomed the allocations after Tuesday’s vote, saying the funding was needed to support children and the haredi education system during a period of financial difficulty.
The dispute follows an earlier High Court case concerning a NIS 1.08 billion education transfer approved by the committee in December. During those proceedings, it emerged that approximately NIS 400 million had been distributed before the committee voted, prompting sharp criticism from the court.
The Knesset’s legal department subsequently said that seeking committee approval only after budgeted funds had already been distributed was unlawful and undermined parliamentary oversight.
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