Knesset asks High Court to unfreeze budget transfers approved during election recess

The Knesset petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday to unfreeze five budget transfers approved during the election recess, arguing Speaker Amir Ohana lawfully authorized the Finance Committee meeting. The court will hear the petition on Tuesday. Justice Alex Stein had halted the transfers on August 5, citing procedural concerns. The Knesset contends it has two routes for convening committees, and the speaker's authority remains valid even after the Coordination Committee refused approval. Petitioners, including Hiddush and MK Naama Lazimi, argue the August 4 meeting breached recess restrictions.

The Knesset petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday to unfreeze five budget transfers approved during the election recess, arguing that Speaker Amir Ohana lawfully authorized the Finance Committee meeting despite opposition objections. The court will hear the petition on Tuesday, with hundreds of millions of shekels in disputed allocations still on hold. Justice Alex Stein temporarily halted nearly all transfers on August 5, citing apparent problems with how the committee was convened, but allowed one allocation for civilian emergency expenses to proceed. The Knesset argued that its rules provide two separate ways to convene committees during a recess: the ordinary route requiring Coordination Committee approval, and a separate provision allowing the speaker to authorize meetings in special cases. The Knesset contended that the second route remains available even when the Coordination Committee has refused approval. The Finance Committee held a permitted meeting on July 29, approving 22 of 23 requests considered. Chairman MK Hanoch Milwidsky sought another meeting for 13 unaddressed requests and three reconsiderations. After the Coordination Committee objected, Milwidsky asked Ohana to authorize the meeting via the special cases provision. Ohana accepted the legal advisers' position that six transfers justified another meeting and shortened the notice period from four days to three. The committee convened on August 4 and approved all six requests, covering defense expenditure, school preparations, salaries, payments to suppliers, summer education programs, and preventing shutdown of rabbinical courts' computer systems. The Knesset argued that approval by the Finance Committee only makes funding available and does not independently authorize a government program. It also said the present government is not formally a caretaker government, so restrictions for caretaker governments cannot be applied. The Knesset noted that Ohana's use of the provision was not unprecedented, citing three Finance Committee meetings during the 2022 election recess. It asked the court to dismiss the petition and lift the order.