Overview
- The Knesset approved the daycare-subsidy bill in a preliminary reading on May 27, moving it to committee after a 44–36 vote.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Religious Zionist Party declined to support the measure, saying they will not grant benefits to haredi parties that oppose a serious conscription framework.
- Haredi leaders sharply condemned the boycott and framed the bill as protecting working mothers, with Deputy Minister Israel Eichler saying it secures daycare discounts regardless of a husband’s choices.
- The bill is likely to face legal challenges because earlier draft attempts were judged vulnerable to High Court equality tests, and opponents say the measure would effectively circumvent the court’s decision on exemptions.
- Coverage differs by outlet: pro-haredi outlets portray the vote as a moral rebuke to the attorney general and attack Religious Zionism, while dissenting voices in the coalition, including a lone Likud MK, called the bill a bypass of enlistment incentives.