Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich harshly attacked Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon during today's (Sunday) government meeting, following the publication of the Attorney General's demand to stop subsidizing daycare centers for families of yeshiva students of draft age.
According to Shirit Avitan Cohen's report in 'Israel Hayom', Smotrich attacked, saying he doesn't know a single yeshiva student who would leave everything and return to being a babysitter "because of your stupid decision."
According to the report, Smotrich said, "You're destroying the economy! Women won't go to work. Haredi society is undergoing change. You're now destroying 15 years of efforts, and you don't even bother to talk to the Finance Minister!"
Smotrich banged on the table and continued: "Who are you anyway? You didn't have a single professional discussion! A bunch of arrogant people! A bunch of idiots! We'll throw your letter into the trash bin of history! Destroyers of the state!"
Earlier today, the Haredi factions attacked the dramatic decision of the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, to stop subsidizing daycare centers for children of yeshiva students eligible for military service.
Minister of Jerusalem and Israeli Tradition, Meir Porush, responded to the decision: "The legal counsel exposes the truth - they're not interested in the army's needs, but only in an obsessive persecution against the world of Torah and the Haredi family. The legal system is dragging young children into a political battle and working to starve them, they have no limits."
Deputy Minister Uri Maklev wrote: "Lift up your hands to Him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. See, O Lord, and consider, to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, the children they have cuddled?"
The Shas faction issued a statement saying: "The Attorney General's decision to deny working Haredi mothers daycare subsidies, three weeks before the start of the school year, just because the husband studies Torah - this is cruel legal bullying and abuse of helpless children. This is a disgraceful mark of Cain on the forehead of a legal system that is supposed to be the shield and relief for women who have decided to enter the workforce and contribute to the Israeli economy.
"The purpose of the subsidy is to encourage women's employment. Haredi women have the highest rate of female employment in the OECD. This unfortunate decision will set them back.
"The issue of the status of yeshiva students is currently being discussed in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and efforts are being made to reach a legal arrangement in cooperation with the defense system. Abusing working Haredi women as a means of pressure is absolute folly that will not take a single yeshiva student out of the study hall and will distance any solution on the issue.
"Shas, led by Chairman Aryeh Deri, will examine the legal tools at its disposal to cancel this scandalous decision that has a black flag flying over it."
The chairman of United Torah Judaism, Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, responded: "The Attorney General's decision to exclude the children of yeshiva students is scandalous and discriminatory. This is a direct attack on Haredi women who go out to work for their livelihood and seek to maintain a Torah lifestyle.
"It goes without saying that the Attorney General would not publish an identical decision against an Arab population that does not serve or against the children of foreign workers and infiltrators who enjoy services and allowances as if they served in the IDF. This is another attempt to harm the Haredi public in various and cruel ways. An attempt doomed to failure.
"United Torah Judaism will act with all the tools at its disposal to cancel this evil decree and ensure that the families of yeshiva students are not harmed. We will demand an urgent discussion in the government and the Knesset on the issue and act to correct the situation as soon as possible."
As reported earlier this morning on 'Kikar HaShabbat', the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, informed the Minister of Labor, Yoav Ben Tzur, that the daycare subsidies for Haredi families where the father is a candidate for army recruitment must be stopped.
This refers to young yeshiva students from age 18 to 26 who will no longer be eligible for daycare subsidies, making this the most painful blow delivered so far to the Haredi sector and young yeshiva students.
In a letter to Minister Ben Tzur, the Deputy Attorney General, Gil Limon, writes on behalf of Baharav-Miara: "Our legal position - with the approval of the Attorney General - is that in the current legal situation, in accordance with the court ruling and given the expiration of Chapter 3,1, the state is no longer authorized to encourage through government funding according to the daycare criteria, Torah studies of those eligible for military service. In other words, the lack of authority no longer allows funding based on the fact that one of the family members is studying in a Torah institution while he is designated for security service."
