The government approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to allocate NIS 285 million toward security in educational institutions for the 2025 year and onward, during a heated government meeting between ministers on Sunday.
The move requires other government ministries to reduce their budgets by 0.6% in order to transfer the funds to the National Security Ministry for the schools.
The decision came the day before the opening of the school year on Monday (September 1), after much back-and-forth on the matter.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch had warned in mid-August that the school year would need to be delayed due to unresolved issues in arranging funding for school security.
Extra funds for Israel's schools initiated by Netanyahu
The proposal was initiated by Netanyahu rather than Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who opposed the decision.
Smotrich purposely did not attend the meeting due to his opposition to the proposal, his spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post.
Netanyahu was able to initiate the proposal “due to his unique status in setting government priorities,” and through coordination with professional bodies in the Finance Ministry, the government proposal said.
All ministers present in the meeting voted in favor of the proposal, except for Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer and National Missions Minister Orit Strock.
Following the meeting, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced he was glad the proposal had been passed.
“This decision is of utmost importance. From the moment I returned to the ministry, time and again I banged on the table and said: There cannot be a situation in which schools in the State of Israel are left without security guards,” Ben-Gvir said.
Kisch underscored the importance of the decision after the meeting, stating that “the safety of Israel’s students is a red line.”
“I made it clear that we would not allow the school year to open without a full arrangement of the security budget,” he continued.
“Israel’s students will begin the year safely, and I wish them a successful and secure school year,” Kisch concluded.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) slammed the decision to make the budget cuts from other ministries, claiming that the government should have instead chosen to “shut down two unnecessary ministries today,” adding that “There are 15 of them.”
Tourism Minister Haim Katz stated his opposition to the proposal ahead of the meeting, calling the intended cuts to his ministry “an insult to the public.”
“The continued cuts to the ministry’s budget are an insult to the public. Tourism in Israel is experiencing the most severe crisis it has ever faced, and the ministry’s budget is extremely limited,” Katz said.
Anna Barsky contributed to this report.