Sources in United Torah Judaism said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed them he would not advance the daycare subsidies bill, despite what they described as an earlier commitment to bring it to a vote. They said, “We stand firmly on this and will not accept any delay or retreat.”
At the same time, legislation is being promoted that would prevent the arrest of draft evaders, while the economic sanctions against them would remain in force. The daycare bill was already pulled on Monday, after the Knesset Presidium decided it would not be brought for a first reading.
The ultra-Orthodox parties then threatened not to support coalition legislation, including a bill on the Kellner inquiry committee, raising concern that the coalition could not assemble a majority. As a result, a separate proposal for a political inquiry committee was also not brought to a vote. Later, Shas and United Torah Judaism carried out the threat, saying in a joint statement that because the daycare bill was not placed on the agenda, they would not vote that day for coalition legislation in the Knesset plenum.
Before the bill was even approved in a preliminary reading, the ultra-Orthodox had issued an ultimatum to coalition lawmakers, forcing their support. They had previously threatened to back a bill establishing a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks, rather than Kellner’s political committee bill, and that measure passed 44 to 33.
The daycare bill is meant to keep state subsidies for daycare centers available to families in which the father does not work and does not serve in the IDF, so that mothers are not harmed economically when they try to enter the workforce. Under current rules, both spouses must work or study to qualify. The proposal would make a spouse’s military nonservice, usually in the case of full-time yeshiva students, irrelevant for subsidy eligibility as long as the wife works, addressing a crisis created after the previous enlistment arrangement was struck down and draft-age ultra-Orthodox men risk losing daycare support.
