Finance Minister Yoram Aridor has ordered the Treasury to cease paying subsidies to yeshiva students at the same rate paid to the families of armed forces veterans. He acted after two Arab MKs of the Labor Alignment appealed to the Supreme Court against what they consider discrimination against Israel’s Arab population.
According to the MKs the discrimination lies in the fact that yeshiva students, who are not required to serve in the armed forces receive the same allowance as veterans while Arabs who are not allowed to serve in the armed forces receive a much lower family subsidy. The appeal was supported by Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir who informed Aridor that the present arrangement is not in accordance with the law.
The appeal is expected to be dropped in view of Aridor’s order. Aguda Israel MK Avraham Shapiro said he was not at all concerned because “If they don’t pay it one way we will find some other way.”
Meanwhile, Mohammad Wattad, one of the Arab MKs who filed the appeal, suggested that the time was ripe for the government to require Israeli Arabs to perform some type of national service in lieu of military service so that there could be no grounds for discrimination.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
