The “Daycare Law” proposed by Deputy Minister Yisrael Eichler was approved on Wednesday in a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum, with 44 in favor and 37 opposed.

The bill, which was intended to bypass Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s revocation of daycare subsidies for the children of avreichim, states that eligibility for daycare admission and state participation in the costs will be determined solely according to the mother’s employment or educational status — even when the spouse studies Torah.

MK Meir Porush said: “The approval of the Daycare Bill initiated by Rabbi Yisrael Eichler in a preliminary reading is a significant step toward correcting the terrible injustice done to the families of lomdei Torah.”

“I congratulate the coalition members who understood that under no circumstances is it reasonable to punish a small child because his father learns Torah. We demand that the government immediately advance the bill to final approval.”

“It is a disgrace that opposition MKs, along with a few from the coalition, chose to harm small children in this way. I call on the judicial system to stop the persecution of helpless babies and toddlers.”

The bill’s sponsor, Yisrael Eichler, responded after the preliminary approval: “The Daycare Law I proposed many months ago anchors the right of a working mother to receive a daycare subsidy — regardless of her husband’s actions. The Knesset’s vote in favor of the law is an important ray of light amid the darkness of the persecution of the entire Chareidi public.”

“If the secular authorities do not understand the importance of limmud Torah, at least in this matter the Knesset understood that you can’t impose antisemitic decrees on children and mothers because the father of the family learns Torah.”

“This is important news for thousands of families. This law will help them earn a living with dignity in the workforce. I hope the Knesset will expedite the legislative process as quickly as possible until its final passage.”

The Religious Zionism party decided not to participate in the vote, but Otzma Yehudit supported the bill.

UTJ MKs slammed the Religious Zionist members for absenting themselves from the vote.

MK Uri Maklev said: “The difficulty the Likud had in gathering a majority for the most elementary and humane thing — daycare for innocent babies — proves there is no real bloc.” Maklev added that “the fact that an entire coalition party boycotted the vote and even tried to torpedo the law, alongside their opposition to legislation regulating the status of Lomdei Torah, proves the Likud’s claims that they can secure a majority for laws important to us are simply untrue.”

Moshe Gafni also lashed out, saying: “This was a law that for years was self-evident in the Knesset — helping women who go out to work and easing the burden of their salaries and employment conditions. The hatred toward the Chareidi public is making them lose their minds and is harming the working and weaker public as well.”

Gafni then directed pointed criticism at the Religious Zionist Party: “Even their ideological partners in Religious Zionism are acting with distortion and ingratitude. We gave them everything — in settlement activity, budgets, and positions — and when issues important to the Chareidi public arise, they turn their backs and work against us. We will take this into account from now on in everything related to Religious Zionism.”

UTZ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf focused his criticism personally on party chairman Betzalel Smotrich. “Betzalel Smotrich’s abstention in the vote on the daycare law exposes his true face,” he said. “When he comes again seeking votes in the Chareidi sector, the public will remember that at the decisive moment, Chareidi families meant nothing to him. From his perspective, Chareidi children are just another tool in the political game to cross the electoral threshold.”

An uproar broke out in the Knesset plenum after MK Dan Illouz voted against the bill, the only Likud member to vote against it. Shas MK Yinon Azoulay responded furiously, shouting at him in the plenum: “Shame on you, shame on you.”

Illouz has drawn significant attention in recent weeks after opposing the draft law and voting against the coalition in several major votes.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)