Last week the Bayit Yehudi party voted against a bill that was to permit giving tax incentives to to’eva couples. The dati leumi party announced it was going to back the bill, but reneged at the last moment.

Officials in Yesh Atid were furious over the failure to advance the bill and the betrayal by its coalition partner.

The path chosen was ‘don’t get mad – get even’ and Yesh Atid did just that. Party members who sit on the Knesset Finance Committee, blocked 90 million NIS allocated for yishuvim. Joining in with Yesh Atid was MK (The Movement) Elazar Stern, who explained that while he does not have a problem with the funding for yishuvim, he does have a problem with Bayit Yehudi not telling the truth, as was the case in the to’eva bill vote.

Hence, the funding for yishuvim was held up. In a retaliatory move, Finance Committee MK Nissim Slomiansky from Bayit Yehudi decided to play hard ball. Prior to approving 211 million NIS for the Prime Minister’s Office as planned, Slomiansky adjourned the meeting. 181 million NIS of that funding has been earmarked for programs that are supported by Yesh Atid, such as Massa and Birthright.

But wait, there is more. Bayit Yehudi is also seeking to punish Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for approving a cut of 48 million NIS in funding for talmidei yeshivos coming to study from abroad, such as Mir. In the case of the latter Slomiansky is working with chareidi lawmakers to get that money back, which was promised a long time ago.

Slomiansky however did not state outright that the delay in approving the Birthright funding was linked to these issues, preferring to tell his colleagues the delay is due to administrative snarls and he promises to expedite approving the allocations. However, it is clear to all what exactly is taking place and why the meeting was adjourned prior to approving 211 NIS million for the Prime Minister’s Office.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)