ISRAEL (VINnews) — In a partial victory for the Charedi community, the attorney general’s office will keep daycare subsidies for families of Charedi military-age yeshiva students intact until the end of November. However a senior Shas Minister is slamming the decision.
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The new directive is a partial concession to a request by Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur of Shas, who requested that the critical subsidies continue until September 2025, or at least February.
As part of its Charedi draft ruling, the High Court ruled that it is illegal for the state to provide benefits to military-age men who study in yeshivas and did not report for service.
One of these benefits is daycare subsidies for children aged 0-3 for families in which both parents work or study. Until now, this included yeshiva study, however, according to the AG, that is no longer true, as per its interpretation of the court.
In a letter sent to AG Gali Baharav-Miara, Ben Tzur wrote that this is “a short-term delay, a false front via a temporary solution which only deepens the problem.”
He said that the changes “are in complete opposition to the purpose of daycare subsidies.”
“Your decision to delay the decree for a period of only three months does not stem from moral motives,” he noted. “My position is clear: Only a delay of at least a year will provide a response and a solution for thousands of young children, mothers, and caregivers whose futures, security, and welfare are now called into question.”
“…Implementation or an attempt to implement your decision under the timetable involved, besides for that it is absolutely unrealistic, will also lead to complete chaos…which will critically harm normal functioning of the Ministry’s systems, with all that comes with that.”
Ben-Tzur wants an entire year in part for the welfare of the children, some of whom, for example, may be moved to a cheaper daycare mid-year. Limon rejected this, saying that these were not grounds to enable the government to violate the law.
On August 18, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote that his policy was to continue the subsidy payments, and that it was his prerogative to do so despite the attorney general’s opinion that this was illegal.
If possible, try to get your children to marry into the families of the Yeshivos Administrators. They get millions from the Israeli Govt and American donors. Their children and grandkids always get their own apartments.
Why do they need daycare if they are not working, in training or in other productive means of society?