Gafni warns Netanyahu: No delay on the daycare subsidy bill

MK Moshe Gafni told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that United Torah Judaism will not accept any postponement or retreat on the daycare subsidy bill, after the legislation stalled. Gafni, who heads Degel HaTorah, said the prime minister and Likud had promised to bring the bill for approval, and “we stand firmly on this and will not accept any delay or backing down.”

United Torah Judaism's Agudat Yisrael faction also escalated the pressure, saying the entire faction was united in demanding that Netanyahu keep his pledge. It said failure to pass the bill would amount to an admission that he wants to dissolve the Knesset and move to elections.

In response to the crisis, Gafni informed the coalition that Degel HaTorah representatives on the Knesset Finance Committee would vote against all budget transfers scheduled for the day. The move is seen as a serious intensification of ultra-Orthodox pressure because it could disrupt major fiscal and economic measures.

The dispute follows a joint message sent yesterday by Shas and United Torah Judaism to the coalition chair, saying that because the bill was not brought to the agenda, they would not support coalition legislation in the Knesset plenum. The daycare bill is meant to regulate continued subsidies for daycare centers for families of yeshiva students, after the attorney general and the High Court ruled subsidies should be denied in cases of draft evasion. The issue remains contentious in the coalition and the opposition, and ultra-Orthodox parties say they will keep disrupting Knesset work until it is resolved.