Subsidies for Torah Study Amid National Defense Needs: Examining Israel's Haredi Funding Debate.

The recent discourse around Israel's Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community and their military exemption has intensified, especially in light of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) being stretched thin by ongoing security crises. Prominent voices like Yossi Alpher criticize the Haredi community’s stance, framing their non-participation in the IDF as problematic, particularly given their substantial state funding.

1. Government Funding for Torah Study:

The Israeli government allocates significant funds for Torah study, reflecting the influence of ultra-Orthodox parties within the ruling coalition. The recent budget included an additional 250 million shekels (about $67.5 million) specifically for Haredi men studying in yeshivas instead of working, alongside longstanding subsidies. This budget expansion sparked widespread protests, as many citizens feel the funds should instead support general welfare and military personnel under strain.

2. Child Allowances for Ultra-Orthodox Families:

Beyond educational subsidies, large Haredi families receive additional child allowances. These funds are meant to offset the costs associated with raising children in a society where families often have multiple children. In a recent vote, the government supported child allowance adjustments to cater to ultra-Orthodox demographics, whose community represents nearly 14% of Israel’s Jewish population and has a higher birth rate than the national average.

3. Population Growth and Socioeconomic Impact:

The ultra-Orthodox population in Israel is around 1.3 million, and their numbers are rapidly growing. The higher birth rate combined with relatively low workforce participation, particularly among Haredi men (with only about 51% working), has increased poverty levels in this community to roughly 44%, compared to 22% in the general population. This dynamic places an economic strain on the state and highlights the broader societal debate over the distribution of state resources and the expectations of civic participation through military service.

The debate remains contentious as many in Israel advocate for policy shifts to either reduce financial benefits for those who refuse military service or encourage integration of Haredim into both the IDF and the workforce, potentially using financial incentives to shift current practices.

Comments

Gaza Beyond the Alibi of Hamas: Genocide as Method, Silence as Accomplice.( From Chris Hedges report )

We are the most informed generation in human history—and perhaps the least disturbed by what we know. From the first missiles that struck Gaza’s residential blocks to the slow starvation that followed, everything was visible. Every destroyed home. Every burned hospital. Every child pulled from rubble. And yet, the global emotional temperature barely rose. In an age of total visibility, feeling itself has become scarce. Watching has replaced witnessing. Knowing has replaced responsibility. This moral numbness is not accidental. It is cultivated . And at the center of this cultivation stands a single word, endlessly repeated, ritually invoked, and strategically deployed: Hamas . Hamas has functioned not as an explanation, but as an alibi. The Choice Was Announcedk From Day One From the earliest days of Israel’s assault, the policy was articulated with chilling clarity: Gaza’s population would be given two options— stay and starve, or leave . This was not the language of counte...

Never Attack a Revolution—Unless It’s Gaza

By Malik Mukhtar There is a peculiar confidence that comes with being wrong for decades and still being invited back to explain the world. Yossi Alpher—former Mossad official, veteran intelligence analyst, and institutional voice of Israeli “realism”—offers us precisely that confidence in his January 12, 2026 reflections on Iran. His message, distilled, is simple: things are complicated, revolutions are unpredictable, and humility is required . This is sound advice. It just arrives from the wrong mouth, at the wrong time, over the wrong bodies. Because while Alpher warns us—correctly—not to “attack a revolution, ” Israel has spent the last two years doing something far more obscene : attacking a trapped civilian population with no revolution , no army , no air force, no escape —and calling it self-defense . Intelligence: A Sacred Failure, Repeated Faithfully Alpher recalls, with admirable candor, the catastrophic ignorance of Western and Israeli intelligence during...

Ana Kasparian: The Voice That Won’t Be Silent — A Call for Truth in an Age of Power

Ana Kasparian is one of the most recognized and outspoken voices in contemporary political media. As a co-host of The Young Turks — a trailblazing online news and commentary program — she has spent nearly two decades dissecting U.S. politics, media, power, and foreign policy with unapologetic clarity and fierce conviction. She is not just a commentator — she is a truth-seeker who challenges power at every turn , refusing to soften her words for comfort. Schooled in journalism and political science, Ana’s commentary continues to mobilize millions, especially younger generations who feel unheard in mainstream discourse. A Voice Against the Status Quo Ana’s rhetoric can be bold, controversial, and deeply passionate — because she refuses to accept narratives that obscure the underlying truth about power and influence. On American democracy and foreign policy, she strikes at the heart of what many hesitate to articulate: “ We don’t actually live in a true democracy here in t...

Dr. Randa Abdel Fattah. De-Invited by Association: When Grief Becomes a Pretext and Palestinian Identity a Liability

How Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah Was Silenced in the Name of “Sensitivity” In a remarkable feat of moral gymnastics, Australia’s literary establishment has once again demonstrated how grief can be weaponised, principles suspended, and Palestinian identity rendered dangerously “inappropriate ” —all in the name of cultural sensitivity. Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah , a respected author, academic, and public intellectual, was quietly de-invited from Adelaide Writers’ Week following the Bondi Junction massacre. Not because she had any connection—real, implied, or imagined—to the atrocity. Not because she endorsed violence. Not because she violated any law or ethical standard. But because, apparently, the mere presence of a Palestinian Muslim woman who speaks about justice is now considered culturally unsafe during national mourning . One wonders: unsafe for whom? The Logic of the Absurd Festival organisers were careful—almost impressively so—to state that Dr. Abdel-Fattah had nothing to do wi...

Gaza and the Collapse of World Order: When the Guardian of Human Rights Sounds the Alarm

There are moments when the language of diplomacy fails, when caution becomes complicity, and when silence becomes an accomplice to destruction. On January 9, 2026, Agnès Callamard—Secretary General of Amnesty International—crossed that threshold. Her words were unambiguous, unprecedented, and devastating: The United States is destroying world order. Israel has been doing so for the last two years. Germany, through complicity and repression, is helping govern its demise. This was not activist rhetoric. It was a diagnosis from the very institution tasked with guarding the moral and legal architecture of the modern world. The Collapse of the Post-War Moral Architecture The international order that emerged after World War II was built on a promise: never again . Never again genocide. Never again collective punishment. Never again impunity for powerful states. That promise was codified in international law, human rights conventions, and multilateral institutions. But Gaza has...

Ainnbeen

Search This Blog