By KESHET NEEV JUNE 14, 2026 22:37 The legislation being advanced by the coalition that would expand state-funded daycare subsidies for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft evaders amounts to “backstabbing” Israelis serving in the military during wartime, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, ahead of the legislation’s expected advancement this week.
“It is absolutely morally wrong. It will reduce Israelis' motivation to continue serving. It’s really backstabbing them,” Haskel explained.
“You cannot have that. And I will do whatever I can in order to continue to guard the back of those who are serving our country the most,” she told the Post .
The legislation aims to change the eligibility criteria for daycare subsidies, basing it solely on a mother’s income, in a move that critics argue will encourage state subsidies for parents of draft evaders even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage.
The bill recently passed its preliminary reading and is expected to be brought for its first reading vote in the Knesset Plenum on Monday. Haskel had voted against it in the preliminary vote despite support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s coalition, of which she is a member.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks outside his office at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 3, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90) Haskel was also one of the four coalition lawmakers who voted last week against the preliminary reading of a separate bill that seeks to enshrine Torah study in the country’s Basic Law, and has vowed to continue fighting the legislation’s advancement.
Haredi proposal seeks to encourage draft evasion
The Basic Law: Torah Study legislation was part of a proposal pushed by haredi parties that seeks to encourage draft evasion and change the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits.
The move to enshrine Torah study into the country’s Basic Law would still have sweeping implications on the status of haredim who evade service in the country and would, effectively, equate IDF soldiers to draft evaders.
Explaining why she has voted against the legislation, Haskel said in her interview with the Post that, “we are at war, and when we have a pyramid of priorities, security always has to be on the top priority, and it is a top priority for me.”
“When I sit in a [Knesset] committee, and I hear the representatives of the army saying they are missing almost 17,000 combat soldiers... I understand we have a serious problem,” she added.
Regarding the daycare subsidies bill, Haskel said that it was “unacceptable” to give priority to the ultra-Orthodox community over communities that serve the country and “who are paying a huge price, a huge cost, in defending the people of Israel and in our country.”
“The ones who need to be rewarded in those daycares with those grants are first of all our reservists and the people who are serving, not anyone else,” Haskel added.
The daycare subsidy bill proposes that only the mother’s employment or educational status be considered when determining a daycare center’s subsidy eligibility, without taking the father’s employment status into account. This could further allow children of haredi men who do not serve in the IDF and are unemployed to receive daycare subsidies.
Moving forward with the legislation comes as the High Court of Justice ordered in April that the state take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and to move toward criminal enforcement against haredi men who evade military service.
Haredi party leaders have continuously pushed for Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, notably after more than two years of war.
There have also been reports of an agreement between Netanyahu and the haredi parties to push the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties have sought. In return, they reportedly would receive advancement of the Basic Law: Torah Study and the haredi daycare subsidies bill.
The IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage
In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.
“As much as it depends on me, I will not let them close political deals on the back of our soldiers, the ones who are serving our country the most and are paying the biggest price,” Haskel said, vowing to do what she could in her power to stop the contentious legislation from passing.
When asked if she thought the legislation being advanced would harm polling for Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party in the upcoming elections, Haskel responded that she did not think it would. “I think that, unfortunately, the case is very clear right now in Israel because politics have made such a huge division among the people…
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