The Finance Ministry is not targeting teachers with a recent pay cut but the situation has been manipulated by the media, which are inciting teachers with lies, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed in an X/Twitter post on Friday.
The Finance Ministry, Smotrich claimed, offered the Teachers Union many suggestions for implementing the reduced budget in a way that would not harm the income of teachers.
“It pains me that you are not told the truth and that supposedly the harm is only to you teachers, which…is simply not true,” Smotrich wrote. “It pains me that you are being incited with lies, supposedly, there is an intention to simultaneously raise the salaries of ministers and members of Knesset. The truth is completely the opposite; the salaries of ministers and members of Knesset have been frozen for the third year in a row!
“It pains me that you are being incited with lies, supposedly saying that the salary reduction does not apply to teachers in the Haredi sector. This is a complete lie, as part of the inappropriate fashion of trying to pin all problems on the Haredi public. I have no problem with hostile and inciting media that work to spread hatred and division among the people of Israel in the midst of war. I am saddened that those who claim to represent Israeli educators, who are supposed to be an example and role model for education and values, act in this inappropriate manner.”
Smotrich further added that the reduced budget was necessary in order to continue to fund the war against Hamas.
“We are in the midst of a long and expensive war of survival. As Minister of Finance, I have a heavy responsibility to steer the Israeli economy responsibly and in a way that will enable it to finance all war efforts, on the front and in the rear, until victory, and to sustain itself in a stable and firm manner for years to come. Believe me, this is not an easy or popular position, but I carry it with joy and a sense of privilege to serve you and the people of Israel in this biblical period that God will fortify Israel's strength and security for decades to come,” he wrote. “The war has cost us over two hundred and fifty billion shekels so far: for the needs of the IDF and the defense establishment, for the envelope of support for veterans and their heroic families, for support for evacuees and survivors, for the treatment of the wounded and injured, for the reconstruction of the north and the south, and so on.”
איגרת משר האוצר למורי ישראל ולגננותמורי ישראל היקרים,גננות יקרות,כבן לשני הורים מורים מחנכים וכמי שגדל על ברכי מרכזיות החינוך בחייה של אומה, יש מעט דברים שמכאיבים לי יותר מהאשמות שקריות כביכול אני פוגע במורים.אנו בעיצומה של מלחמת קיום ארוכה ויקרה. כשר אוצר מוטלת עלי אחריות…
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) May 2, 2025
Teachers strike following announcement of pay cuts
The reduced budget will also reportedly impact doctors, nurses, permanent employees, members of the Shin Bet, Mossad, and Israel Police, employees of municipalities and local councils, government and security companies, social workers, and more.
Smotrich’s statements came after the Education Ministry announced it planned to back teachers in a strike on Sunday.
On Friday morning, kindergartens across he country went on a partial strike that affected select schools.
According to reports, many teachers used sick days to take off the strike day.
