On Tuesday night, Yerushalayim Affairs Minister Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism took aim at what he described as a judicial double standard, responding to the recent passage of a law that strips terrorists of National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) benefits.
During his remarks in the Knesset plenum, Porush expressed disbelief over the situation. “I don’t understand what country I’m in, and what year I’m in. As far as I know, I am in the year 2024, in the same country I was in two years ago. In today’s country, there is no problem deciding that the family of a person who didn’t become a soldier should not be eligible for daycare [discounts].”
Porush underscored that the individual he was referencing “is not a terrorist – his whole sin is that maybe he hasn’t yet enlisted, or that he, as per the rabbis’ instructions, is not going to enlist until there is an arrangement ensuring that people will not be able to harm yeshiva students.”
The minister criticized what he viewed as an inconsistency in government policies, pointing to the disparity in how benefits are handled for terrorists versus yeshiva students and their families. “But with the wave of a hand, the Attorney General decides that they will not receive money – not his family, and not the yeshiva where he studies, to harm his children. But in order to take money from a terrorist, we need a law? And if there was already a law, then the Supreme Court overturns it, and you have to bring another law.”
Porush’s frustration grew as he questioned the fairness of the current system. “Can someone explain to me why someone sitting and learning in yeshiva isn’t deserving of support, but a terrorist received [support] up until a moment ago? Why a mother whose child is in daycare should not receive a subsidy, but until now, terrorists did? What is the logic? Other than hatred of charedim, there is no explanation.”
{Matzav.com Israel}