Day 818 - Coalition, Haredim and judiciary on massive collision course
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Political reporters Ariela Karmel and Sam Sokol join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
Following the High Court's Wednesday ruling temporarily halting a transfer of funds to ultra-Orthodox schools, Sokol and Karmel discuss the implications of the petition against the transfer, reactions from ultra-Orthodox leadership, and the broader context of judicial reform amid budget tensions and coalition politics.
After Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened High Court President Isaac Amit over a ruling regarding Army Radio, Karmel reports on the ostensible incitement and the willingness expressed by some members of the government to defy court rulings against the backdrop of the coalition's attempts to neuter the power of the courts.
As several Haredi parties battle over appointments to the Jerusalem rabbinate, the argument has spilled over into national politics, says Sokol, highlighting divisions in ultra-Orthodox politics.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
High Court halts transfer of NIS 1 billion to Haredi schools as it reviews case
Lapid petitions High Court to halt billion-shekel transfer to ultra-Orthodox schools
Supreme Court chief says Smotrich crossed ‘red line’ by pledging to ‘trample’ him
Smotrich vows to ‘trample’ Supreme Court president in blistering attack
Shas, Degel HaTorah trade barbs in fight for control of Jerusalem religious council
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IMAGE: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on December 29, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Visual's Daily briefing. It's Thursday, January 1st, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. Happy 2026. I am speaking today with political reporters Sam Sokol and Ariel Carmel. Hello, good morning to you both. |
| 0:16.8 | Hi, Jessica. Morning, Jessica. Hi there on this first day of 2026. |
| 0:21.7 | It is day 818, 818 of the war. |
| 0:25.9 | As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rang in the new year with U.S. President Donald Trump |
| 0:30.9 | at Marilago in Florida and the U.S. |
| 0:34.0 | Back home, there was an uproar on Wednesday over a temporary high court order blocking the transfer of funds to ultra-Orthodox schools after a lawsuit that was placed by opposition party Yish Atteed. |
| 0:47.0 | We will discuss many different angles of that, as well as finance minister Betalas Motr's vows against the Supreme Court president, |
| 0:54.9 | and a feud between ultra-Orthodox parties over Jerusalem's religious council. |
| 1:00.6 | Stay with us. |
| 1:09.6 | Okay, Sam, let's start with you unpacking this temporary high court order, blocking the transfer |
| 1:16.9 | of funds to ultra-Orthodox schools. Basically, the High Court of Justice issued this order that |
| 1:23.4 | blocked the transfer, but it came in response to a petition that was submitted by |
| 1:29.0 | Yeshatee Lawmakers. I'm sure you have more details to add to that, just that piece of it. |
| 1:35.2 | And you worked on this with Arellah and with Jeremy Sharon. So take us through the first bits of this. |
| 1:42.5 | Take us through the background that led up to this, please. |
| 1:45.0 | Yeah, so last week, the Knesset Finance Committee approved the transfer of over a billion |
| 1:50.3 | shekels to ultra-orthodox schools from basically leftover money from the state budget. |
| 1:58.0 | This was part of a large series of last-minute budget transfers happening in the |
| 2:03.4 | committee, and they approved about $247.86 million to two school networks affiliated with the |
| 2:13.8 | ultra-Orthodox Shostin United Tour Judaism parties, another 136 million shekels, |
| 2:19.6 | $43 million, to other Haridi schools, which in theory teach about 75% of the state-set |
| 2:29.1 | core curriculum, but in practice often don't, and an additional 151 million shekels, $47 million, to Tomah Torres, |
... |
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