Petitioners urge High Court to unfreeze urgent funding for authorities in Israel's North, South

Petitioners have urged Israel's High Court to release urgent funds to local authorities in the North and South, distinguishing them from other disputed government transfers. This latest request follows a legal battle over hundreds of millions of shekels approved by the Knesset Finance Committee during the election recess.

The Knesset has pushed back, arguing that the petitioners' willingness to separate urgent funding from other allocations undermines their initial claim that the August 4 Finance Committee meeting was unlawful. They have asked the court to dismiss the petition and lift the freeze entirely.

Currently, most of the disputed funds remain blocked. While civil emergency expenditures were initially excluded from the freeze, and Justice Alex Stein later released NIS 78 million for the Religious Services Ministry, transfers for the Education Ministry and National Missions Ministry are still on hold. The petitioners now seek to further narrow the scope of the freeze, allowing critical local needs to be met.