Smotrich Moves to Restore Tax Breaks for Donations to Non-Enlisting Yeshivas

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is working to overturn guidance from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that would strip tax benefits from donations to yeshivas whose students do not enlist in the IDF, Kan News reported Thursday night. The guidance, issued in recent weeks, says such donations should no longer qualify for the tax relief currently available to donors.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from ultra-Orthodox parties, amid estimates that the change could cost institutions tens of millions to hundreds of millions of shekels a year in lost income. In response to a petition on the issue filed to the High Court of Justice by the Israel Hofsheet organization, Smotrich argued that the attorney general’s guidance was issued without authority.

According to the report, the finance minister is expected to hold a discussion with officials in his ministry to examine canceling the directive. The effort is also being pushed forward because of pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties.

Smotrich said the attorney general had handled the matter “in a scandalous way behind the back of the finance minister.” He added that if the ultra-Orthodox parties bring forward the dissolution of the Knesset and prevent both the splitting of the attorney general’s role and aligning it with “what is customary in democracies around the world,” they will need to explain to their voters why they are being “persecuted by the attorney general.”