Liberman said planning mix of cuts, benefits to boost Haredi workforce participation
Report says Treasury officials to present plan that includes ending some subsidies for full-time yeshiva students, giving grants to ultra-Orthodox schools that teach core subjects
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman is promoting a plan to increase ultra-Orthodox workforce participation, with a mixture of subsidy cuts and financial incentives, according to a television report Monday.
Channel 13 news said Liberman’s plan would pull daycare subsidies for children of full-time yeshiva students and scrap property tax discounts for families in which the parents do not work.
The report said the plan also includes “carrots,” such as offering financial benefits to Haredi schools that teach core subjects such as math, science, and English.
Liberman is also reportedly pushing to slash by half the number of hours seminary students learn per week, without cutting yeshiva budgets. The proposal is aimed at encouraging students to work part-time, without having to forgo a government stipend.
The government is also working to pass a bill to grant earlier exemptions from military and national service to ultra-Orthodox Israelis. The bill, which the government hopes will encourage Haredi men to leave the yeshiva and enter the workforce at a younger age, passed its first Knesset reading at the end of January.
Senior Finance Ministry officials are expected to present Liberman’s plan to ministers on Tuesday.
Channel 13 said the main obstacle to the plan was coalition party leaders’ desire to work in the future with ultra-Orthodox factions. Supporting such measures will no doubt enrage Haredi lawmakers and may undermine the prospects for political cooperation down the road.
The report comes a month after the High Court of Justice ruled against a plan by Liberman to end daycare subsidies for the children of full-time yeshiva students in the middle of an academic year, blocking its implementation over the lack of a year-long grace period before the cuts took effect.
Liberman announced the controversial move in July, drawing furious criticism from ultra-Orthodox politicians. The minister has sought to dampen ultra-Orthodox parties’ political influence and end special government benefits enjoyed by their voters, while encouraging members of the community to find jobs.
Ultra-Orthodox opposition lawmakers denounced that nixed plan following its unveiling last year, with Shas party leader Aryeh Deri calling the step “destructive and wicked,” and designed “to hurt families with many children simply because they are Haredi.”
United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni called Liberman “evil,” while fellow UTJ MK Yaakov Litzman accused the Treasury chief of acting out of “revulsion and hatred” toward Torah students.
The Times of Israel Community.