MK Ahmad Tibi
MK Ahmad TibiHezki Baruch

Joining the mostly haredi voices condemning the recent decision of Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to cancel daycare subsidies to families where the father is in full-time Torah learning, was, perhaps unexpectedly, Joint Arab List MK Ahmad Tibi.

Tibi was interviewed on Radio 103FM, where he criticized Liberman’s decision, calling it “inappropriate.”

“This decision weakens the weak even further,” he said. “I am familiar with the conditions in which these families live, and this decision should be reconsidered.”

MK Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party also decried Liberman’s decision.

“The Torah of Israel is what gives us our right to exist here,” he said, “and it is disgraceful to starve the children of those who study the Torah. This evil government should be ashamed of itself.”

Pointing out that Liberman had previously promised to “deal with the haredim,” Shas MK Yinon Azoulay said, “And now he’s doing precisely that. Liberman is telling us that anyone who wants to learn Torah will not be able to do so – but we won’t give him that prize. Liberman’s agenda is to harm the weaker sectors, which is exactly what he’s doing now to the haredim.

“We are in the process of deciding whether to appeal his decision to the Supreme Court,” Azoulay added. “The basis for such an appeal is quite straightforward – because the children in question have already been in daycare for the past few months.”

Azoulay stressed that, “As long as I sit on the Knesset Finance Committee, the Treasury won’t have it easy. There will be a battle on the committee over every single issue and we’ll block all their plans. We will oppose them with all our might, and if we have to remain in the Knesset for 48 or even 72 hours straight, then that’s what we’ll do – we won’t give up.”

“We will act strictly according to protocol, but we will be using all the tools available to bring this government down – including preventing them from passing a budget. This is an evil government. Bennett, Shaked, and Lapid all stated that they would look after the haredim, but if this is what they mean by looking after us, then they have betrayed the last drops of trust we had in them.”