These are the kind of maneuvers I like to see the Opposition do, even if they really are meaningless.

MK Michael Malkieli (Shas) has proposed a law by which yeshiva students would be exempt from paying Bituach Leumi's monthly payments until age 19.

The purpose of the law is to equate the yeshiva students in this regard to the students of the State school system, in which students are exempt from paying until the end of 12th grade or until they reach the age of 19 years old. Until now yeshiva students began making payments at the age of 18.

The explanation given is that the intent of the original lawmaker was clearly to exempt students from paying Bituach Leumi until the age of 19 and as soon as the State recognizes a school system, no matter which one, and supports it and funds it the same laws should apply to the students in all these school systems.

Malkieli says this will save 1400nis a year for yeshiva students and there is no reason they should be discriminated against.

The Ministerial Legislative Committee passed the proposal.
source: Kikar

Malkieli said it would save yeshiva students 1400nis per year, but actually that only applies until they hit the age of 19. After that they will have to pay the Bituach Leumi payments. I wonder how many and what percentage of yeshiva students will be affected by this, and for how long. If the average yeshiva student enters yeshiva at the age of 17, with some starting at 16 and some at 18, the main benefit will be for a year and a half, up to 2 years. He should also be proposing a law equating them to soldiers and exempt them from paying for a further 3 years - after all, if the State recognizes the yeshivas as an alternative to the army, and funds them and supports them and licenses them, the students should have equal terms as well.

MK Yisrael Eichler (UTJ) has proposed law that is almost a copy, with slight, but major, changes, of another law proposal on the docket.

MK Miki Levi (Yesh Atid) has a law proposal on the docket that would exempt people leaving the frum community and becoming secular, aka in Israel "chozrim b'shailah", from paying the monthly fee to Bituach Leumi because of the difficult financial situation they experience throughout the process.

According to Eichler, those who are "Chozrim b'tshuva", secular people joining the frum community, also suffer from financial difficulties, and should also be exempt from the Bituach Leumi payments.

Eichler took Levi's proposal and copied it word for word, changing only the words "chozrim b'shailah" to "chozrim b'tshuva", and submitted it.

Eichler explains that baalei tshuva suffer from financial difficulties as they have trouble finding employment and have trouble learning vocations while going through the sharp change in lifestyle, along with the dramatic differential in knowledge and lifestyle acclimation. Exempting them from the Bituach Leumi payments  will help them integrate into their new society and help them overcome their difficulties.
source: Behadrei

Good idea. I like it. If one gets it, the other should as well. Though I dont know why either side should get it. Maybe an arnona discount, or a small tax break, but why Bituach Leumi?

I don't see the exemption, for either side, defined by any limits. Or by definition. What constitutes a baal tshuva that would qualify - someone who goes to a few classes can apply for the exemption? Do you need a note from a rabbi that you have kept shabbat and kashrut for 6 months to get the exemption? Do you need to be registered in a yeshiva? What is considered a baal tshuva? And, can Baalei tshuva who have already been frum for 10 years, or 3 years, or 25 years, or 1 year, qualify for it? and someone who becomes frum the day of the passing of the law - does he or she get the exemption for 1 year, for 10 years or for 25 years?

and the same questions apply for Miki Levi's law - do chozrim bsheilah get the exemption just by saying they are no longer frum? Do they need a letter from a community leader saying they have been witnessed driving on Shabbat and eating shrimp? Do they get the exemptions for 1 year, 10 years or 25 years? etc.

Work out all those details and then it seems like a good idea...

or don't pass either law.

There was recently a situation in which Bituach Leumi sent letters to many thousands of people, yeshiva students and avreichim, claiming that they had never paid their Bituach Leumi payments since they had turned 18 and now, 8 years or so later, are obligated to pay it all plus interest and linkage to inflation.

Bituach Leumi is a scummy organization. Perhaps that is no different than any government organization, but that is the way it is. They do things like this all the time. People who move away from Israel continue to have to pay Bituach Leumi monthly payments. They don't get any letters or warnings, but 10, 15 or 20 years later when the person comes back to Israel, suddenly he is slapped with a debt of hundreds of thousands of shekels including interest and inflation. Kids turning 18 do not register, and years later they get these bills....Along with many other unclear situations in which similar things happen.

Bituach Leumi seems to have made it part of their business model to prey on people's lack of clarity in how Bituach Leumi and the payments work (it is very complicated) and take advantage of it to earn lots of money in interest payments.

Hopefully that will soon come to an end.

Many people recently brought their surprising letters to MK Eichler (UTJ) not knowing what to do with them. How can an avreich with no money suddenly pay tens of thousands of shekels in back payments? All along he could have managed to pay his minimum monthly payments (167nis per month per unemployed person, and 124nis per month for students and yeshiva students), but to get 8 or 10 years worth of payments in a bill all at once? Impossible.

Bituach Leumi came to an agreement with Eichler that they would allow all these people to pay off the debt in [up to 48] payments, and only pay the original debt and not interest or inflation.

More importantly for everyone else, Bituach Leumi is now obligated to inform people of their obligation to pay and send them requests for payment from the moment they become obligated to pay.

This is a good thing..

As soon as a person turns 18, or any other scenario, Bituach Leumi will have to send a letter and a bill explaining the requirement to pay the monthly fee.

All that being said, the people involved are a bit negligent. Even if most Israelis do not understand the complexities of Bituach Leumi and how the payments are calculated, let alone the rights and benefits people are entitled to as a result of those payments, Israelis do know that once they turn 18 they have to pay Bituach Leumi and need to take care of it. This was not the first time something like this happened, and all parents know that their kid turning 18 means he or she is no longer under the parents payments any longer. All these people were negligent in ignoring and avoiding doing what they really knew they needed to do.


source: Kikar

MK Yisroel Eichler (UTJ) has proposed a law that is not likely to pass...

Eichler wants to amend the current Bituach Leumi law for child allotments.. Eichler proposes that during the months of the holidays, specifically April and October, Bituach Leumi should double its allotment for children.

Eichler explains that in recent years the number of children living under the poverty line has increased... therefore he proposes that at least in the months of the holidays the stipend should be doubled from the normal base amount. Increasing it during the holiday months will ease the burden a bit on the parents and will help them, even if just a bit, with the food expenses for the months in which the expenses are normally greater.

Somehow, with today's government that has worked to cut things out of the budget wherever possible, I cannot imagine them approving this idea... even if it isn't such a bad one...

My daughter recently turned 18. After she did, we went down to the offices of Bituach Leumi to register her. Until 18, children are included in the parents account with Bituach Leumi - when I pay my fees to Bituach Leumi, it covers my children as well. Once they hit 18 though, the kids are considered adults and are on their own. They need to register and pay their own Bituach Leumi bills.

It really should be automatic. The kid hits 18 and Bituach Leumi should send him or her a notice and a bill and life goes on. But they do not. They make you, or expect you, to go register yourself in their system. Unfortunately, many people do not do so. Either they don't know they are supposed, or they think it will be automatic, as it should be, or they postpone until they eventually forget about it.

Nothing really happens, so people tend to not think about it. Until it does.

One day,  usually a bunch of years later, a bill from Bituach Leumi arrives in the mail saying you owe something to the tune of 10,000 NIS for x years of unpaid  Bituach Leumi bills plus interest and collection fees.

Another scenario is someone who leaves Israel for a number of years. When abroad they do not bother paying Bituach Leumi, because why should they. They do not realize the tab keeps ticking. I think technically before you leave the country you can have them freeze your account, but many people do not do that - either not know they can or that they should.

Then, many years later, this person decides to return to Israel. Sure enough they are slapped with a Bituach Leumi bill with an astronomical figure at the bottom - for all those unpaid bills plus interest and collection fees.

To resolve this, MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) has submitted a law proposal that would require the Bituach Leumi and the Broadcasting Authority to send citizens reports of how much money they owe before they begin tacking interest and fines on the amount.

Zandberg says the current law creates an absurd situation in which Bituach Leumi has interest in not being transparent in order to accumulate fines and interest, and thereby increase their revenues. You end up with these large bills with fines tacked on, without ever even having received an original bill to pay.
(source: NRG)

If Zandberg has her way, this will come to an end and they will have to send original bills and notices before tacking on fees and interest.

I hope this law passes. I know too many people who have found out the hard way.. some were able to negotiate down somewhat, and others had to agree on payment plans... It is not right, and it is about time this process was put to an end.