From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 4, 2024
Likud MK declares he won’t back bill guaranteeing daycare subsidies to Haredi draft-evaders
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, declares that he will not support the so-called Daycare Law being pushed by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.
“Israel has been at war for more than a year” and Israeli leaders are “obligated to make every effort to provide the IDF with additional soldiers,” Edelstein states in a video statement sent to the press.
As such, “I will not lend my hand to the Daycare Law nor to any law that attempts to circumvent our ceaseless efforts to expand the conscription base in the State of Israel,” he declares.
The legislation in question would guarantee the continuation of taxpayer-funded childcare subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox community despite a High Court of Justice ruling that such financial support is not legal in cases where the father should be serving in the Israel Defense Forces but is not.
Critics believe that the its passage would continue to encourage ultra-Orthodox men not to perform military service, even as the IDF faces severe manpower shortages as a result of losses sustained in the yearlong multifront conflict against the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups.
A bill seeking to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment is currently stuck in Edelstein’s committee, where he said it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
The Times of Israel Community.