Adv. Ori Hess: ‘Minister Biton repeatedly takes steps in favor of the Haredi educational institutions, where there is a serious conflict of interest, and against the instructions of the ministry of education and the interests of the students. We expect the minister of education to act in accordance with the command “watch yourselves very carefully” and to immediately put the minister in his place.’
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel today, Tuesday 24 June, wrote to the legal advisor to the prime minister and the minister of education, demanding that minister in the ministry of education Haim Biton, the former CEO of the Shas education network, be blocked from interfering in the affairs of the network and acting to prevent the closure of Haredi educational institutions that violated the IDF Home Front Command’s instructions.
As a reminder, this week the ministry of education issued closure orders and announced the cessation of funding for educational institutions that violated the IDF Home Front Command’s directives and operated during the war, but a few hours after the ministry’s announcement was published, Minister Biton announced that the Haredi educational institutions that were issued closure orders would not be closed and their budgets would not be cancelled.
According to the Movement, Minister Biton is in a serious conflict of interest given his past as the director of a religious education network, and therefore he is completely prohibited from dealing with the affairs of this network or institutions related to it. It appears that in his actions against the closure of Haredi educational institutions, including the educational institutions of the network he headed, Minister Biton is acting not in the public interest but on behalf of those close to him, and in complete violation of the law. The Movement also claims that Minister Biton’s announcement poses a real risk to the lives and safety of the students under his responsibility.
The Movement notes in its letter that this is not an exceptional or one-time event, but a recurring pattern of action in the ministry of education under Minister Biton, who repeatedly allows the law and guidelines to be broken for the sake of the Haredi institutions and against the interests of their students.
Following this, the Movement requests that Minister of Education Yoav Kisch and the attorney general immediately exercise their authority and clarify to Minister Biton that he does not have the authority to deal with any issue concerning the Ma’yan HaChinuch HaTorani network or the institutions related to it, and to make it unequivocally clear that educational institutions that operated in violation of the IDF Home Front Command’s guidelines will be closed immediately and their budget will be cancelled, in accordance with the law and the ministry of education’s own guidelines.
Adv. Ori Hess, head of the economic department of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel: ‘Minister Biton repeatedly takes steps in favor of the Haredi educational institutions, where there is a serious conflict of interest, and against the instructions of the ministry of education and the interests of the students. We expect the minister of education to act in accordance with the command “watch yourselves very carefully” and to immediately put the minister in his place, and to act to bring to justice the institutions that violated the IDF Home Front Command’s instructions and put their students in mortal danger.’
the letter (heb):
פניית התנועה 24.6 – ניגוד עניינים חמור של סגן השר חיים ביטון מסכן חיי אדם
