From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 28, 2024
Report: Rabbis tell Haredi party to withdraw demand to prioritize draft exemption over budget
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"
Only hours after demanding that the government postpone a cabinet meeting dealing with the budget in order to first address the passage of a bill exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party appears to have reversed course, withdrawing its ultimatum in the face of opposition by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Channel 12, the leading rabbis who set policy for UTJ have instructed the party leadership to instead focus, in the meantime, on the issue of daycare subsidies for ultra-Orthodox children.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has ordered the payments halted, arguing that the state is legally barred from funding daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who are obligated to perform military service but are not doing so.
This morning, UTJ chairman Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf proposed that only selected parts of the 2025 state budget be advanced before the Haredi draft exemption issue is settled, prompting Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich to declare that the budget must be passed on time.
Earlier this month, Goldknopf threatened to bolt the coalition if the exemption bill, which is currently stuck in committee, isn’t passed before the 2025 state budget comes up for approval.
Failure to pass the budget by March 31 will result in the dissolution of the government and early elections.
The Times of Israel Community.