Haredi minister accuses AG of trying to ‘starve’ Haredi children for political goals
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush accuses Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of working to “starve” ultra-Orthodox children for political reasons after the AG ordered Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur to cut funding for daycare for the children of ultra-Orthodox students who refuse to obey draft orders into the military.
“The attorney general’s advice reveals the truth: they are not interested in the needs of the army, but only in obsessive persecution against the Torah world and the ultra-Orthodox family,” Porush, of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, says in a statement.
“The legal system is dragging small children into a political battle and working to starve them,” he continues. “They have no limits.”
Baharav-Miara’s order came after the IDF last week moved to begin drafting some 3,000 Haredim, in line with a High Court ruling that there is no longer legal justification to avoid doing so.
However, only 48 of the 900 who received draft orders showed up amid large-scale protests, the military said.
