Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman incurred the wrath of Ultra-Orthodox politicians Wednesday when he announced a plan to cut childcare subsidies, in a way that would primarily affect ultra-Orthodox fathers who opt for full-time yeshiva over integrating in the workforce.
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According to Lieberman's plan, to be eligible for such subsidies, fathers will need to work or study in a non-religious educational institute for at least 24 hours a week.
Approximately 130,000 families benefit from the subsidies each year, with the Labor and Social Services Ministry disbursing some NIS 1.2 billion ($32 million), about a third of which is spent on ultra-Orthodox families.
The plans stands to directly affect 18,000 Haredi families, including 20,000 young children. The average monthly government subsidy at present is worth between NIS 900-1,300 per child. The plan will save the state 400 million shekels ($122 million a year).
Any student undertaking a trade or skill that leads to a job will be exempted from the new rules and make them eligible to receive a subsidy.
"Parents will be eligible for daycare subsidies starting the first day of employment," the Finance Ministry stressed.
"This decision is a very important step in changing state priorities and putting to place those who work and pay taxes first," Liberman maintained.
"The current mechanism harms working parents and prefers those who are not working and so the change is required. I will continue to lead processes that will cancel negative incentives to integrate into the job market," he added.
The move, clearly intended to push ultra-Orthodox men to find employment, drew a stinging rebuke from Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas and Ashkenazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism.
United Torah Judaism leader MK Moshe Gafni called Liberman "an evil man" for the policy change, while Shas chairman MK Arye Deri described the decision as "destructive and wicked."
Likud MK Shlomo Karhi called Lieberman the "devil incarnate" who "gives the Muslim Brotherhood NIS 53 million while starving Israeli children. … He will soon end up in the dustbin of history."
Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich said, "Torah studies are the bedrock of our existence. Starving the children of yeshiva students is a disgrace. This evil government should be ashamed."
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Merez) also expressed reservations over the proposal, telling Army Radio that "I believe in giving children what they need, regardless of what their parents do. Children are independent entities and if what serves them best is to be in daycare I don't think taking it away is a good idea."
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