Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed coalition whip Ophir Katz on Tuesday evening to remove UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler’s daycare bill from the Knesset agenda for Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s instructions came after it became clear that the bill did not have a majority to pass in the Knesset due to opposition from members of the Likud, Religious Zionism, and New Hope.
However, despite his instruction, the prime minister cannot control the decision of an MK proposing a private bill and it is possible that if Eichler insists, the bill will still be brought to a vote in the plenum for a preliminary reading.
However, following Gallant’s dismissal on Tuesday evening, the UTJ party is reconsidering bringing the bill for a vote on Wednesday to give the coalition time to re-organize itself.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu, encouraged by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud), tried to gain support for the daycare law behind the scenes but was apparently unsuccessful.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
There are some halachik questions on the issue of chillul hashem by pushing for daycare subsidies for a demographic that doesn’t serve in army and doesn’t pull its weight economically, remember the rambam writes that chilul hashem is determined by perception of general public.
It is two-edged sword. Not “rewarding” draft evaders with subsidies paid for by taxes from working Israelis, the majority of whom also have served in the IDF and may still be on active Reserve duty. On the proverbial “other hand”, denying these stipends to families where one parent is working and need day care hurts the children who really are the collateral damage of this policy.