The 50-Million Bill and the Bnei Baruch Network in the Knesset

On the first page of Bill No. 1936/25/פ stand three signatures: Hanoch Milwidsky, Tally Gotliv, Nissim Vaturi. The document is called “On the National Administration for Uniting the People” and requests about 50 million shekels in annual state funding for educational and social grants. As The Seventh Eye wrote, the initial version also listed Yoav Kisch and Yoav Gallant alongside Milwidsky, but after their ministerial appointments they were removed for a technical reason.

Milwidsky is one of the signatories and a former lawyer for Bnei Baruch; his broader legal-political biography is handled separately. In the budget story, he matters as a lawmaker who connects the organization, party defense and a parliamentary initiative for a budgetary authority. According to The Seventh Eye, immediately after being sworn into the Knesset he recorded a video for supporters and described introducing the bill as fulfillment of a promise made during the primaries.

The political background was visible before the bill. In August 2022, TheMarker wrote that internal letters and publications pointed to organized registration of people from Kabbalah La'Am and their relatives in Likud. In July 2025, Ynet put the Milwidsky case back on that older line: earlier publications had described exploitation, control, sexual allegations against the leader and an attempt to expand political influence through organized entry into Likud.

After Milwidsky’s promotion to chair of the Knesset Finance Committee was announced, Haaretz, Davar, Ynet, The Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel separately recorded the party defense and the dispute over the appointment. Times of Israel reported that Likud attacked the attorney general and framed the investigation as an attempt to block the appointment, even though the committee in question allocates state budgets and resources.

The appointment mechanics were numerical, not symbolic. The Knesset House Committee recommended Milwidsky by 9 to 6, and then the Finance Committee approved the appointment by 10 to 7. The Jerusalem Post noted that Milwidsky himself was not present at those discussions and votes: at the same time, he was already chairing a Finance Committee meeting as a temporary replacement. The appointment was also described as temporary: the post was supposed to return to Moshe Gafni if Gafni rejoined the coalition after the dispute over the ultra-Orthodox draft law.

University of Haifa: a staffing reserve with diplomas

In 2015-2016, a specialized program was launched at the University of Haifa. The institutional architect was Gabriel Malka. The teaching staff included Eli Vinokur, Ronen Avigdor, Guy Itzhakov, and Milwidsky himself, then not yet a lawmaker.

According to former students, the course operated as a closed system: study materials and ready-made answers were passed from cohort to cohort. The first cohort, which included Shimi Rein, laid the basis for later groups. Over several years, the program produced about 500 people with official Israeli diplomas, formally qualifying them for employment in state educational and social sectors.

Five hundred certified specialists from one training environment take on another meaning when a bill for grants to educational and social projects appears nearby.

The question of testimony and how it was stopped is handled in a separate article. Here the relevant chain is different: diplomas, the ministry office, party support and an initiative for state funding.

A spokesperson from the first cohort

Among the graduates of the Haifa program was Shimi Rein, a member of the first cohort. He later became spokesperson to Education Minister Yoav Kisch, the ministry responsible for approving educational grants.

The career of Gilad Shadmon describes a neighboring trajectory: someone from the same circle appears at another point of the state system. The family and staffing layer around Shadmon is better read separately; here it matters only because it shows that the line is not limited to one lawmaker.

Fifty million shekels

Milwidsky’s parliamentary initiative requests a budgetary base large enough for the regular distribution of grants through the relevant ministry. In its December 18, 2024 publication, The Seventh Eye noted that the bill was submitted in January 2023 and had not been brought to a vote by the time of publication; Milwidsky himself had already acknowledged that creating such an authority through a private member’s bill would be difficult, and linked implementation of the idea to a possible future ministerial post.

The chain is practical: Milwidsky initiates a budget pool in the Knesset, Rein sits in the relevant ministry, and graduates of the Haifa program receive formal diplomas for the educational and social sectors. The movement’s internal financial base is addressed in the article on nonprofits and reports; the next level is the state budget channel.

A network without public faces

The movement does not require politicians linked to it to identify publicly with the community. For the budget story, something else matters: connected figures are distributed across key points of the state system.

At the political level, Hagit Telem, Shlomo Siboni and Eran Shiovetz appear in the same political vicinity. Siboni is based in Petah Tikva, the same city where Bnei Baruch’s administrative center is located. Reference profiles of recurring figures are collected in the archive of the personnel circle.

What context changes

The text of the bill on a “National Administration” is written as a declaration of civic cohesion. The biographies of the signatories and connected figures change the weight of the document.

Milwidsky taught in the program that produced about 500 potential recipients of future grants, handled legal matters for the organization and now signs a bill to create a body capable of distributing those grants. Rein, a graduate of the first cohort of the same program, sits inside the relevant ministry. Hagit Telem, Shiovetz and Siboni add municipal and party ties near the same circle.

The 50-million-shekel bill was submitted to the Knesset. After that, Milwidsky received party support in his move toward the Finance Committee despite the public scandal and police suspicions reported by Israeli media. A few days after the questioning, Maariv reported his public response: Milwidsky denied the suspicions and claimed that he had support from the prime minister, ministers, the coalition chair and fellow Knesset members.

That makes the final chain concrete: people from the movement’s circle, state posts, a bill, the relevant ministry, the Finance Committee, 9:6 and 10:7 votes, party defense. The question is therefore no longer the reputation of one lawmaker, but the access of an organized environment to state money.