Coalition Crisis Deepens as Haredi Parties Say Daycare Subsidy Bill Is Shelved

Israel’s coalition crisis intensified on Tuesday after Likud told Haredi lawmakers that the bill to restore daycare subsidies for draft evaders would not come to a first reading in the Knesset plenum. The reason, according to the coalition, is that it cannot assemble the required majority for the legislation. The bill was meant to bypass the freeze on subsidies for families with a conscription defaulter by tying eligibility only to the mother’s employment status, not to both parents.

The Haredi factions responded angrily. United Torah Judaism said there had been a commitment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud to bring the bill for approval, adding, “We insist on this firmly and will not accept any delay or retreat.” Agudat Yisrael said the entire faction stood together with Degel Hatorah in demanding that Netanyahu keep his promise, and warned that failure to pass the bill would amount to an admission that he wants to dissolve the Knesset and go to elections. A senior United Torah Judaism figure said the faction was “united like an iron fist” and would not vote with the coalition on anything until the bill advanced.

Shas is also pushing a parallel track, continuing to promote a “Basic Law: Torah Study.” Former minister and MK Michael Malkieli said on Kol Berama that the main bill could not be passed legislatively, so the party returned to the Basic Law initiative, which he said has legal force and could ease “part of the madness of the courts.” He added that Shas chairman Aryeh Deri has been working on a plan that may help solve the arrests issue.

The controversy escalated after the bill passed a preliminary Knesset vote on May 27. It is sponsored by MK Israel Eichler of United Torah Judaism and seeks to change day-care and family-housing subsidy criteria so only the woman’s employment status matters, allowing yeshiva students to keep subsidies even if the father evades military service. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from coalition lawmakers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Deputy Minister Ofir Sofer, MK Dan Illouz, and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said the bill is unconstitutional because it would encourage unlawful draft evasion and harm those serving, setting up a potential institutional clash if the Knesset ultimately approves it.