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Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL on 5 November, 2024
Israeli Daycare Legislation Lays Bare Cracks in Governing Coalition
Jerusalem, 5 November, 2024 (TPS) -- Israel’s governing coalition on Tuesday lost the Knesset votes needed to pass a controversial Daycare Law amid a disagreement over Orthodox Jewish army recruitment.
The bill guarantees that the children of Haredi men who are required to serve in the Israeli military — but have not registered to do so — will continue to be eligible for state subsidies for daycare. The subsidies would take the mother’s employment status into account, but not the father’s. The legislation aims to address a High Court of Justice ruling that the subsidies are illegal in such situations.
The bill, spearheaded by the United Torah Judaism party, was approved by the government’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday which advanced it to the Knesset on Sunday.
However, at least eight coalition MKs from three different parties have said they will not support the Daycare Law, including Likud lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, who chairs the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer of the Religious Zionism party, and Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who leads the New Hope party.
While Israel is in a state of war, the country’s leaders are “obligated to make every effort to provide the [Israel Defense Forces] with additional soldiers,” Edelstein said in a video message on Monday.
A ninth figure, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has not publicly commented on the legislation, is widely expected to also vote against the legislation. Several other Religious Zionism lawmakers have not indicated their positions.
United Torah Judaism leaders previously said they would not cooperate with passing a national budget if the Daycare Law is not passed. By law, the Knesset must pass a budget by March 31 or the government will automatically fall, triggering national elections. On Friday, the Cabinet agreed on a 744 billion shekel ($198 billion) budget and sent it to the Knesset for approval.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was said to be trying to convince the lawmakers to either switch their vote or abstain. If Netanyahu is unsuccessful, he is expected to delay the Knesset vote.
Military service is compulsory for all Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and the country’s leading rabbis agreed to a status quo that deferred military service for Haredi men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions. At the time, no more than several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.
However, the Orthodox community has grown significantly since Israel’s founding. In January 2023, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Haredim are Israel’s fastest-growing community and projected it would constitute 16% of the population by the end of the decade. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the number of yeshiva students exceeded 138,000 in 2021.
That demographic growth has fueled passionate debates about “sharing the burden” of military service, the status of religious study in a Jewish society, and Haredi integration.
The war against Hamas, now in its tenth month, has stretched the army’s manpower needs, sharpening the national debate. The Press Service of Israel found that Haredi attitudes towards military service have softened since Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
