Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday at a conference of the Manufacturers Association of Israel and said that he disagrees with the chairman of United Torah Judaism, Yitzhak Goldknopf, on the need to study English.
"I don't agree with him, and I as Prime Minister and the Likud will lead the policy," Netanyahu said.
"My perception regarding Israeli children is that English is mandatory, I don't want to say from the age of 0-3, but I want to start teaching English from a young age, already in kindergarten. We will find a way to bring the haredim, through dialogue, to study these subjects," he added.
At the beginning of the week, Goldknopf caused an uproar when he claimed that studying core subjects, such as English and math, does not help Israel's economy. "I didn't see that mathematics advanced the country economically," he said.
His statement was criticized in particular by Labor chairwoman Merav Michaeli and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman.