Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is working to overturn the directive issued by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, which stated that donations to yeshivas whose students do not enlist in the IDF would no longer be eligible for tax benefits, Kan News reported Thursday evening.
Earlier this year, Baharav-Miara ruled that Torah institutions attended by draft-eligible students who fail to report for military service will no longer qualify for tax benefits for donors. These yeshivas will no longer be able to grant donors income tax credits under Section 46 of Israeli law.
The haredi parties reacted sharply to the move, amid estimates that it could result in a loss of revenues ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of shekels annually.
In his response to a petition filed by the "Israel Hofshit" association to the Supreme Court, Smotrich argued that the directive was formulated without proper authority.
The report noted that the Finance Minister is expected to hold a meeting with his office staff to examine the possibility of revoking the directive. The move is also being pushed due to pressure from the haredi parties on the issue, the report added.
Smotrich responded to the report, saying: "The Attorney General conducted the entire process in a scandalous manner behind the Finance Minister's back."
He also warned, "If the haredi parties expedite the dissolution of the Knesset and prevent the division of the Attorney General's roles and the alignment of her position with what is customary in democracies worldwide, they will have to provide explanations to their public, which is being persecuted by the Attorney General."