Treasury chief, education minister feud as teachers union threatens strike over salary cuts

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Education Minister Yoav Kisch publicly exchange fire after the latter backed a teacher union’s call for a nationwide strike on Sunday as part of a salary dispute.

Smotrich sent a letter to teachers in which he wrote: “I cannot comprehend that when hundreds of thousands of reservists are leaving everything — their homes, families, work and livelihoods — and give their lives to defend the homeland, it is those who educate our children who will go on strike and harm the war effort.”

The Treasury chief also described the salary cuts as “a reduction of only several percentage points in a temporary manner to finance the war.”

Hitting back, Kisch accuses Smotrich of being “totally disconnected from the crisis in the education system.”