Liberman postpones slashing daycare subsidies for full-time yeshiva students

14 July 2021, 1:57 pm

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Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman attends the Eli Horowitz Conference for Economy and Society, organized by Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem on June 29, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The finance and economy ministries announce that the implementation of Treasury chief Avigdor Liberman’s plan to end daycare subsidies for ultra-Orthodox families in which the father is a full-time yeshiva student will be delayed by several months.

The policy, which is expected to end the subsidies for around 18,000 households and has been roundly denounced by Haredi opposition lawmakers, will now take effect on November 1 rather than at the start of the new school year in September, according to a joint statement from Liberman and Economy Minister Orna Barbivai.

“The finance and economy ministers decided to grant two more months for the education system, employment market and families themselves to prepare for the decision to change the criteria for those eligible for daycare subsidies,” the statement says.

The Finance Ministry issued a separate statement saying the decision would not change the timing of Liberman’s plans to immediately reallocate NIS 55 million ($17 million) of the funds from the slashed daycare subsidies to efforts against domestic violence.