Minister of Labor Yoav Ben-Tzur (Shas) spoke to Kikar H’Shabbat on Monday about a number of issues.

One of the issues that occupies much of Ben-Tzur’s time recently is the threat of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to cut off all subsidies to avreichim of draft age.

As YWN has reported, Baharav-Miara already unilaterally decided, based on an obscure legal clause, that providing funding to yeshivos and kollelim is illegal in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling mandating the recruitment of bnei yeshivos. She cut all funding to over 60,000 Chareidim of draft age despite the fact that she was forced to agree with the IDFs’ conclusion that it could only recruit 3,000 Chareidim in the next year and year after that. She also has threatened to cut off all subsidies to avreichim of draft age, including daycare subsidies and property tax discounts.

Ben-Tzur slammed the behavior of Baharav-Miara. “For over two months, I’ve been requesting a meeting with her and I have not yet received a response. I am the minister responsible for daycare subsidies. The job of the attorney-general is to assist the government, not to impose decrees on citizens. Unfortunately, despite my repeated requests to meet with her, to explain my position – I did not receive a response.”

Ben-Tzur told Kikar: “We’re at a time when parents have already received answers from daycares. Parents already made a decision, reserved a spot, and already made plans for the next school year. Even if they want to make a change, they can’t – all the babysitters are full. This is the reality. Now it’s a month and a half before the start of the school year. She can’t come and change the regulations now.”

“Does someone who is a criminal and is in prison, who stole and did other things, receive subsidies? The answer is yes. They’re still studying at a recognized institution, they didn’t receive conscription orders. So they are still learning. How is it possible to revoke the subsidies? What do you want to do? Harm babies who will go to unsupervised daycares?”

Ben-Tzur said that if he receives a legal opinion that he must revoke daycare subsidies, he’ll appeal to the Supreme Court. “I’ll seek another legal opinion. I’ll request separate representation [rather than the attorney-general]. I won’t allow her to harm children. A Chareidi child’s blood isn’t redder than another child’s. The state can’t order something that harms the children themselves. A daycare is for the child and mother, not the father.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)