Liberman Takes Aim at the Chareidim

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and officials in the ministry have drafted a series of measures directed exclusively at the chareidi community, according to Channel 13 on Monday night.

The proposals include: cancellation of arnona (real estate tax) discounts and daycare subsidies for heads of families who are not working. In addition, it will be proposed to cut the allotted 40 hours a week of kollel study to 20 hours.

Incentives for the core curriculum of secular studies are to be advanced.

Finance Ministry officials will set forth the measures for the chareidi community in the socioeconomic cabinet on Tuesday.

Chairman of United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni responded to the news by saying: “Many ‘Libermans’ have passed through during the course of history, who have disappeared like dust in the wind, while the Jewish People is chai v’kayam.

“Liberman makes every effort to see to it that the chareidim remain in the headlines, in order to cover up for his failures,” said Rabbi Gafni.

UTJ MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman said: “Minister Liberman’s decrees against chareidi families expresses a burning hatred for everything that symbolizes Jewish tradition. The persecution under the aegis of Bennett, Lapid, Sa’ar, Liberman against an entire sector is a disgrace of a kind we have never seen before.

“It’s infuriating to recall Bennett’s and his party’s worthless promises to shield the chareidi public from Liberman, while the reality has been just the opposite. They have been a driving force in this evil coalition against everything we hold sacred,” said Rabbi Litzman.

According to the report, final passage of the new military draft law will be set as an immediate goal. The law would require yeshivos to meet quotas of bochurim for military service or face cuts to their funding from the state.

The bill proposes to recruit chareidim into the IDF, lowering the age of exemption to 21 for those who prefer to remain in yeshiva. The lowering of the age will be in effect for two years.

After that time, the exemption age would rise to 22, and a year later, to 23. Charedim would be able to complete their service at the age of 21 on condition they join the workforce through a track that provides professional training.

The chareidi parties have consistently fought such proposals.

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Uri Maklev said in a recent Knesset debate that the law “undermines the foundation of our existence. I believe wholeheartedly that the duty to study the Torah and its existence is what gives the people of Israel the right to exist, it is our soul of life, it is the main and exclusive pillar of support, it is the cornerstone and foundation for our moral and practical existence,” he said.