Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid announced on Monday that his party will file a petition tomorrow to the High Court against what he described as “the theft of more than one billion shekels from the citizens of Israel.”

“Yesh Atid will petition the High Court tomorrow against the theft of more than one billion shekels from the citizens of Israel,” Lapid said. “This money is transferred to Charedi institutions illegally, through an improper process, while attempting to conceal it from public view,” he claimed.

He claimed that “this amount includes 426 million shekels for the Chinuch Atzmai of United Torah Judaism, with no oversight; 360 million shekels for the Maayan HaChinuch HaTorani network of Shas, with no oversight; and 136 million shekels for ‘recognized but unofficial’ educational institutions, of which 75 million shekels are coalition funds—of course, with no oversight.”

“This amount also includes, in separate line items intended to hide them, an additional 151 million shekels for exemption institutions, 40.2 million shekels in support of Torah institutions, 11 million shekels for Chinuch Atzmai, another line item of 6 million shekels for Maayan HaChinuch HaTorani—why it is separate we have not yet managed to clarify—and another 12.8 million shekels for unidentified Torah institutions. Again, with no oversight.”

“There are additional smaller items, but this is the main picture. In total, more than one billion shekels, outside the state budget, are being stolen from working people—those who serve in the IDF, taxpayers, and the Israeli middle class—and transferred in the dead of night to people who do not serve, do not work, and do not pay taxes.”

Lapid further claimed, “This money is added to the inconceivable sum of 60 billion shekels that the State of Israel pays every year to finance Charedi draft evasion. Precisely in two years of war, when people are doing 200 and 300 days of reserve duty, funding for draft evasion is at an all-time high.

“At the same time, our children are studying in overcrowded classrooms with teachers who are paid too little. Our wounded are in hospitals collapsing under the burden. Our roads are congested, the cost of living is breaking families, personal security is at an all-time low, and the government is raising municipal taxes and other taxes. This petition is being filed because we’ve had enough.

“We’ve had enough of financing a corrupt, rotten, wasteful government that doesn’t count the citizens of the state for anything. We’ve had enough of the fact that every time they have a coalition problem, their solution is to bribe each other with our money. We’re fed up with paying taxes and getting nothing in return.

“What may be most terrible of all is that the money they are taking from us today is being used to destroy our children’s future. They are creating another generation—much larger, with many more people—of young men who do not serve in the army and do not work, whom our children will have to support.”

“We are determined to stop this. The petition to the court will be filed tomorrow. We will do everything to stop this madness. But most importantly, in the next government we will take this money away from them—without blinking, without hesitation—and transfer it to state education, health care, traffic solutions, and strengthening the personal security of every citizen of Israel.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)