Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni slammed Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over the latest attack she carried out against the Chareidi sector on Friday, when she informed the High Court that continued funding of Chareidi educational institutions will be conditional on compliance with the full core curriculum.

“Who put Baharav-Miara in charge of deciding everything in the country according to her agenda?” Gafni wondered. “An elected government is forbidden from making decisions during an election period, the Knesset’s ability to legislate is restricted, but a dismissed attorney general is allowed to decide on her own how children in Chareidi education will be educated and what they will learn?”

“If she wants to determine what Chareidi children should study, then I demand, to the same extent, that all Israeli children study the Taryag mitzvos, Jewish mesorah, Torah, Nevi’im, Kesuvim, and Gemara — and anyone who does not study all these—will not receive funding.”

“Baharav-Miara has crossed every line. In a democratic country, decisions are made by elected officials, not according to the opinion of one woman who has no understanding of Torah and Yahadus and acts as if the entire country is subject to her authority.”

“Chareidi chinuch was here long before Baharav-Miara and will continue to exist long after her. It will continue on its path, as Am Yisrael has been educated for generations. She will pass — and Chareidi chinuch will remain. And she will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people as someone who tried to harm everything kodesh and dear to us and failed.”

“This decision proves what we have been saying all along — all the issues being placed on the agenda, from drafting yeshiva students, through core curriculum studies and the introduction of kefirah into the Chareidi educational system, to many other decisions against the Chareidi public, are not merely about one issue or another. The goal is to change our way of life and make us secular. It won’t happen!

“The Chareidi public will continue to preserve its emuna, its chinuch, and the derech HaTorah, as it has done for generations, and this scheme will not succeed either.”

On Friday, Gali Baharav-Miara informed the High Court that continued funding of Chareidi educational networks will, from now on, be conditional on compliance with the full core curriculum, as stipulated in the official education system’s basic curriculum.

In addition to core curriculum studies, the conditions include the employment of teaching staff with appropriate qualifications, full participation in assessment and evaluation programs, cooperation with supervision and enforcement mechanisms, and compliance with reporting requirements.

According to her position, the requirements will apply beginning with the current school year.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)