Netanyahu orders removal of haredi daycare bill from Knesset plenum agenda

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed Coalition Whip MK Ofir Katz (Likud) on Tuesday to remove the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) daycare bill from Wednesday’s Knesset plenum agenda after it became unclear on Tuesday whether or not he would have a majority for the bill to pass.

United Torah Judaism, the party pushing the bill, reportedly said later on Tuesday that it was insisting that the bill remain on the agenda.

The plenum agenda is usually published just ahead of the beginning of the session.

Wednesday’s plenum session begins at 11 a.m., and a final decision about whether or not the bill will reach the plenum will, therefore, only be made shortly beforehand.

The governing coalition may not have a majority for a preliminary vote for a controversial bill aimed at relieving haredi (ultra-Orthodox) military-age men from a significant financial sanction if they continue evading IDF service.

The vote is set for Wednesday.

The sanction in question is the removal of subsidies for daycare payments, and the bill, authored by UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler, determines that haredi families in which the mother works will continue receiving the subsidy, even if the father is, in effect, evading IDF service.

The coalition has 68 members. United Right chairman MK Gideon Sa’ar announced on Sunday that his four MKs will oppose the bill, and Likud MK Dan Illouz also said he would vote against it.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) announced on Monday that he would “not give a hand” to a bill that would incentivize draft evasion, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is also not expected to support it.

Edelstein did not say explicitly whether or not he would vote against the bill, and coalition leaders were reportedly pressuring him and Gallant to abstain from voting rather than vote against it.

Coalition members voice opposition to bill

Other coalition members of Knesset voiced opposition to the bill, including Religious Zionist Party MKs Ohad Tal and Moshe Solomon, as well as a minister from the party, Ofir Sofer.

Tal and Solomon clarified on Tuesday that they had not yet decided on their vote but would vote according to a party decision, which had not been made yet.

Even if the bill passes its preliminary vote on Wednesday, it will still need to go through the legislative process and may not become law.

The bill’s supporters, led by Eichler, have argued that rather than pushing yeshiva students into the army, the sanction will force working haredi mothers to leave their jobs in order to care for children they can no longer afford to send to daycare.

However, the bill proposal was deemed unconstitutional on Sunday by the Attorney-General’s Office due to its de facto incentivizing draft evasion.

A coalition leader threatened on Monday that the Likud’s members must adhere to “coalition discipline” and vote in favor of the bill, and those that do not will face sanctions. Coalition Whip Katz can, for example, attempt to remove party renegades from the Knesset committees they belong to.

Meanwhile, members of UTJ reportedly threatened they would oppose other coalition bills if the daycare bill did not pass or was not brought for a vote on Wednesday.