The Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted Sunday morning to reject United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Meir Porush’s bill that would give every family with at least four children a free dishwasher.
Porush proposed the bill because of a new tax on disposable plates that took effect two months ago. The bill would cost the state NIS 200 million.
“It is shameful to present such a joke to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation,” Social Equality and Pensioners Minister Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid) said.
The committee rejected a bill by MK Yakov Asher (UTJ) to provide funding to family members of victims of the Meron disaster.
“These families should have received financial aid eight long months ago, and every day that passes is torture,” he said.
The head of the committee, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope), said he supports providing funding to the families but wants it to be done via government allocations, not a bill.
Shai Tzarfati, whose father was killed in the Mount Meron tragedy, complained about the delay, saying the government continues to neglect the Meron victims’ families.
“This is the government’s way of saying to the families, loud and clear: ‘We don’t care about you,’” he said.The committee approved a bill by New Hope MK Zvi Hauser to permit parents to take a sick day when they vaccinate their children for the coronavirus and another bill proposed by Sa’ar to expand legal assistance to sexual-abuse victims.
The committee delayed voting on a bill sponsored by Likud MK Nir Barkat that would officially designate the 15th day of Sivan as being an annual Day of Unity to mark the anniversary of the 2014 kidnapping and murder by Hamas of teenagers Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel.
Another bill, whose vote was postponed, would require all Israeli children to study Arabic from third grade. Sponsored by Ra’am (United Arab List) MK Iman Khatib-Yasin, the bill would make an Arabic matriculation test obligatory.