Israel overnight Monday passed the bill that seeks to subsidize the majority of academic tuition for discharged IDF soldiers, after the opposition accepted a compromise offered by the government.
The proposal would grant tuition scholarships to combat soldiers, lone soldiers and troops from lower socioeconomic status following their service in the military.
The legislation - translated from the Hebrew roughly as “From Uniforms to Studies,” - was approved by a majority of 55-6.
The remaining 61 MKs, both from the opposition and the coalition, did not participate in the third Knesset reading, which the Joint List faction turned into a no-confidence vote.
The bill has slammed by opposition's Likud, which threatened to vote against it and have the legislation fall through. The Likud, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded the bill cover 100% of the tuition, and not just two-thirds.
The Likud eventually agreed to accept the compromise proposal presented at the last minute by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, according to which the government will fund 75% of the tuition fee, as opposed to the originally proposed 60%.
"I’m not willing to allow politics to hurt the IDF," Gantz said. "I ask everyone, both coalition and opposition, to vote in favor of this proposal in coordination with the prime minister and foreign minister."
After the compromise was reached, Netanyahu tweeted: "After this fraudulent government proved that it depends on the [Islamist] Ra'am party, only then did Gantz admit his failure and agree to our demand to raise scholarships for IDF troops".
"This is proof that we were right from the beginning, that our soldiers deserve more, and that this government is dangerous to Israel and needs to be replaced immediately."