About 15 members of the National Left social movement protested near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Caesarea home on Saturday against the haredi stipend bill, which is meant to bypass a High Court of Justice ruling and allow the government to allocate funds to yeshiva students.
The demonstrators scattered cow dung outside the prime minister's "palace" to symbolize the "government's treatment of the Israeli public" and waved signs reading "When there are yeshiva students there is no reserve duty" and "When Gafni goes berserk Netanyahu folds". Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) is the Knesset's Finance Committee chairman and the initiator of the controversial proposal.
Cow dung outside PM's home (Photo: George Ginsburg)
One of the protesters said, "The money being transferred to yeshiva students should instead be allocated to the firefighters, police, students, communities in the periphery and more.
National Left member Lior Reshef said the current leadership "continues to put out fires instead of providing long-term solutions. Instead of making a bold decision that would obligate society as a whole to carry the burden, on Sunday the government will decide to postpone the decision by another five years.
"Even the scent of expensive perfume and cigars cannot cover the stench of the prime minister's conduct," he said. "The (bill) is kosher, but it stinks."
Tel Aviv Student Union chairman Ran Livne said, "The students are waking up and resuming the battle against the yeshiva stipend bill.
"After the prime minister approved the yeshiva bill in its current format and is expected to approve the exemption of all yeshiva students from military service next week, it is time he declare the establishment of a haredi state which will be funded by aid funds from the State of Israel," he said.
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