Porush threatens the judicial system: "We will use our enormous consumer power"
Member of Knesset Meir Porush attacked the cessation of funding for yeshiva students this evening at an economic conference and warned that the sector will leverage its power. He presented data showing that half of the yeshiva students have reduced their purchase of basic food, and declared that "from the perspective of the judicial system, a child whose father studies Torah should go to sleep hungry."
Chairman of the Shlomei Emunim faction, MK Meir Porush, threatened today, Thursday, that the Haredi public will use its economic power in protest against the halting of budgets for educational institutions and Torah students. In a speech at the "Tvuna Le-Kalkala" (Wisdom for Economy) conference, Porush claimed that the judicial system is waging an economic war aimed at changing the Haredi way of life.
Porush delivered the keynote address at the conference, which dealt with the economic challenges of the Haredi society. In his remarks before senior business figures and economic experts, he clarified that the sector, which spends over 51 billion shekels a year, constitutes a significant consumer force. He emphasized that if an instruction is received from the spiritual leadership, the public will know how to leverage its purchasing power to achieve its basic demands and ensure the continuation of the Haredi way of life without compromises.
The tension between the Haredi leadership and the judicial system has intensified recently following rulings that led to the halting of budgets for Torah institutions and kindergarten teachers. The Member of Knesset described these moves as an attempt at predatory coercion and noted that this is not merely a budgetary issue, but a direct attack on the very existence of the Torah world. He accused the decision-makers of choosing to starve children of fathers who study in a kollel, as part of a pre-planned economic war. According to him, this is a desperate attempt to force the Haredi public to change its values.
To substantiate his claims regarding the harm to kollel students, Porush presented data from a new survey conducted in collaboration with the "Midgam" institute. The figures show that 41 percent of households in the sector were forced this year to reduce the purchase of basic food such as meat and fish, or to rely on food vouchers. Among young people and kollel students, the rate of those affected climbs to 51 percent. These data, Porush explained, prove the immediate impact of the judicial decisions on the weaker strata of Haredi society, and pave the way for an organized economic counter-response from the entire sector.
