Shas threatens to oppose 2026 state budget over haredi food-voucher exclusion
If the budget is not approved by the end of March, the close of the fiscal year, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, and new elections will be called.The Shas Party will not vote in favor of Israel’s 2026 state budget unless the Finance Ministry “restores eligibility for haredi families to receive the food-voucher program," Shas Party chairman Arye Deri announced on Monday.Israel’s state budget for 2026 passed its first hurdle on Friday after receiving government approval in the annual high-stakes process that could potentially trigger early elections.Israel’s ministries negotiated from Thursday morning until mid-Friday over the allocations they would receive in the budget without the participation of the haredi parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - who left the government in July over developments with the controversial haredi draft bill.“Shas will not support the budget as a protest against the deliberate exclusion of haredi children from the food-voucher program,” Deri said.Head of Shas party Aryeh Deri and Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef visit at the scene of suspected arson and vandalism at a Jerusalem synagogue which is often frequented by Rabbi Yosef, June 8, 2025. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)“It is unacceptable that a poor haredi child should not receive the minimum that a poor Arab child receives, as demanded by Finance Ministry officials."He added that last year’s food-voucher project “assisted 400,000 eligible families from all sectors, immigrants, the elderly, Arabs, the periphery, and haredim, according to professional eligibility criteria set by the government ministries.”“Now, in a puzzling and infuriating move,” Deri continued, “the Finance Ministry insists on changing the criteria in a way that excludes only haredi families. This is cruel mistreatment of the most vulnerable families, whose only ‘sin’ is being haredi.”Budget must pass by end of fiscal year to avoid early electionsThe budget must still pass three readings in the Knesset plenum to take effect. If it is not approved by the end of March, the close of the fiscal year, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, and new elections will be called.A new outline of the haredi draft bill has since been advanced ahead of the state budget votes in the Knesset, with critics arguing that it fails to enforce conscription to the IDF and is intended to appease the haredi parties to return to the government.
