Overview
- The Ministry of Education filed a court claim against an Ashkelon association accusing it of reporting 648 kollel and yeshiva students when inspectors found only several dozen on site.
- Court documents show the group received more than 40 million shekels from state education and stipend programs between 2012 and 2022 based on its reported numbers.
- The ministry is currently seeking recovery of roughly 3 million shekels tied to funds transferred in early 2022, the period when a covert inspection took place.
- Inspectors reported the building did not house the six institutions the association claimed and found recreational equipment in the shelter and kindergartens on the first floor, with only limited space for students above.
- Investigators collected testimony that some registrations were fictitious and that stipend recipients allegedly returned part of payments in cash, and officials say legal and further probe steps are continuing because the method may have operated for years.