MK (Yahadut HaTorah) R’ Menachem Eliezer Moses in the Knesset on Wednesday pointed out the 2% across-the-board ministerial cuts will severely impact yeshivas.

Moses pointed out that it has only been three months since the 2009-2010 budget as approved and already the government is backtracking on its word. He lamented that NIS 315 million is being cut from the yeshiva budget, a devastating sum that will have a profound negative impact. He questioned how exactly NIS 2 billion is missing suddenly when endless days and nights were spent on the state budget and this went unnoticed.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to Moses as the government representative, explaining that while the state budget was approved, the government is compelled to act in accordance with fiscal realities, realities that have had and continue to have an impact on the global economy.

It is quite clear the chareidi parties are not about to sit back and absorb the significant cut in yeshiva funding, and it may indeed lead to a coalition crisis involving Yahadut HaTorah and Shas.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)