The High Court ruling of March 2024 led to the suspension of budgets for all yeshiva students and avrachim who are required to enlist.
However, this evening Ari Kalman, the I24 Channel's ultra-Orthodox correspondent, reported that despite the decision, yeshivas of the 'Jerusalem faction' continued to benefit from government funding - following an IDF error.
In the 2024 draft, the IDF only provided partial data to the Ministry of Education, which only included those designated for conscription. As a result, funding for many institutions was stopped, but the institutions of the "Jerusalem faction" - whose students were already defined as "deserters" and not designated for conscription - "fell through the cracks" and continued to receive budgets.
Only over a year later did the IDF realize the mistake, and accurate and updated data was transferred to the Ministry of Education.
Following the new information, the state demanded that the institutions that received millions of shekels in error return the funds to the state treasury.
One of the most notable cases concerns the Grodna yeshiva - whose students broke into the home of the chief military police officer last night. The Ministry of Education reached an arrangement with the yeshiva whereby the debt will be repaid in 24 installments.
The ministry is currently conducting a similar dialogue with many other institutions that have received budgets for deserting students, in amounts that total millions of shekels.
The Ministry of Education told Channel I24: "Information on those liable to conscription is transferred from the IDF to the Ministry of Education. In accordance with the information transferred, support for students liable to conscription is discontinued. Immediately after it became clear that there were conscription students in the 'Hapeleg' institutions who were not transferred to the IDF lists, and after an examination was conducted, support for these students was discontinued, and the necessary support reductions and offsets were made. As is customary in these cases, in accordance with the request of the institutions, the offset is carried out in an arrangement for spreading the debt.".
The IDF spokesman's response: "Contrary to what is claimed, all data regarding those liable for conscription is passed on monthly from the IDF to the authorities in an accurate and reliable manner, according to the criteria established with the authorities. If additional details exist, an investigation into the matter can be conducted.".
