Starting on Sept. 1, unemployed yeshivah students will no longer be eligible for daycare-center subsidies for their children, Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced on Wednesday.
“The current mechanism harms parents who work and prioritizes those who do not,” he said, according to Channel 12. “Change is therefore required.”
Today, according to Channel 12, the state provides a subsidy of about NIS 1,000 ($306) per child in kindergartens run by WIZO, NA’AMAT and other nonprofit organizations to families in which the wife works at least 24 hours per week, and the husband is not required to work due to his studies.
Under Lieberman’s new policy, the definition of “studies” will be changed to “employment-oriented studies” (i.e., academic studies, studies towards a certificate and others, but not yeshiva studies. In addition, fathers, not just mothers, will be required to work at least 24 hours per week in order for parents to meet the criteria for receipt of a discount in childcare.
The eliminated discounts are estimated at about NIS 400 million ($122 million) per year, constituting approximately one-third of the state’s total current subsidies for daycare and kindergarten tuition.
Lieberman’s decision does not require legislation in order to be implemented, Channel 12 said, but will be coordinated with Economy Minister Orna Barbivai.
Haredi Knesset members expressed outrage at the policy shift, with United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni stating, “The criterion determined by the evil Lieberman will prevent a working woman whose husband is studying Torah from subsidizing a child in a daycare center, and will cause severe economic harm to these families.”
“The first decision of the finance minister is to harm the haredim,” said Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri.
Referring to the new prime minister and justice minister, Deri added: “[Naftali] Bennett and [Gideon] Sa’ar, who promised to ‘take care of the haredim,’ formed a hate government that made hurting the Torah world its flagship.”