Gov't secretary Yossi Fuchs made an illegal threat against labor ministry accountant to force him to approve financial transfers to families for daycare subsidies, including to haredi families whose father had not reported for IDF service and were therefore illegible, the attorney-general's office charged on Monday morning.
In a sharply worded letter, Deputy AG Gil Limon wrote to Fuchs that he did not have the authority to give ministry accountants directives, nor to threaten them with "consequences" if they failed to respect the order.
Continuing to subsidize daycare
The government has been trying to circumvent the legal barrier to continue subsidizing daycare for haredi yeshiva students. The government's ministerial committee on legislation approved on Sunday a bill proposal to that effect, but the AG's office ruled the proposal unconstitutional, as it enabled illegal draft evasion.
The secretary's attempt to force the issue came after the labor ministry's legal advisor heeded a prior AG ruling in September and refused to approve a measure that would have allowed for all daycare subsidies only until the end of November. The AG allowed subsidies for yeshiva students to continue until then as an organization period, but said that there was no reason to limit all other eligible parents to that period.
The government did not amend the decision and subsidies have stalled since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. Limon wrote in his letter to Fuchs that the latter's accusation that the AG was preventing the subsidies was "false," since the government was responsible for finding a legal solution to the problem.
In the government's weekly meeting on Monday, a number of ministers reportedly complained about what they viewed as the attorney general's "contrarian" conduct. Netanyahu reportedly responding by requesting that Justice Minister Yariv Levin make suggestions to "solve" the issue.
Netanyahu is bound by a conflict-of-interest agreement due to his ongoing criminal corruption cases, and cannot involve himself with appointments or removal of the attorney general, who oversees the state prosecution apparatus.The prime minister's office said in a statement later on Monday that "in the wake of government ministers' severe criticism of the attorney general's office, the prime minister clarified that it is expected from the attorney general's office to assist the government in fulfilling government decisions and advancing its bill proposals – and not the opposite. The prime minister adheres to the conflict of interest that applies to him," the prime minister's office said.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said in response, "Netanyahu's threats against the attorney general is evidence that the government is returning with full force to the coup d'etat."
"We will act to prevent her removal judicially, publicly, and in any [other] way. The attempts to replace her are part of Netanyahu and his government's attempts to destroy Israeli democracy from the foundations during wartime," Lapid added.