Posted on 08/11/24
| News Source: JPost
The state may no longer subsidize daycare for children of full-time yeshiva students whose exemption from IDF service has expired, Deputy Attorney-General Gil Limon ruled on Sunday morning.
The ruling will likely lead to a financial blow to thousands of haredi families just weeks before a new school year is set to begin, and Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur (Shas) announced soon afterward that his ministry was holding a series of "emergency discussions" in order to examine the issue, which he said would cause "severe harm to families' financials since thousands of mothers will leave the workforce."
Limon's ruling came after a series of legal issues arose following the High Court of Justice's ruling in June that haredim men were no longer exempt from IDF service and that yeshivot were no longer eligible to receive state support for men of military age who did not report for IDF service.
The court's ruling did not directly address other financial benefits mainly enjoyed by haredim, subsidized daycare chiefly among them. However, Limon explained in his letter on Sunday that the ruling pointed out the direct link between the state's support for yeshiva students and the legality of their exemption from IDF service. Since the exemption no longer applied, the state could therefore no longer provide any benefits to haredim who continued evading the draft, Limon wrote.