More than 55,000 children under the age of 3 in Yerushalayim — representing 79 percent of that age group — are enrolled in unlicensed and unsupervised daycare settings, the Knesset Research and Information Center reported Monday during a special discussion on early childhood education convened after two infants died last week at an illegal daycare facility in the city, Times of Israel reports.
The research presented to lawmakers showed that 55,100 children under 3 in Yerushalayim are not part of the supervised daycare system. Comparable figures include 13,400 children in Beit Shemesh, 12,000 in Bnei Brak, 7,500 in Tel Aviv, and 6,100 in Rahat who are also outside regulated frameworks.
Only 21 percent of toddlers in Yerushalayim are enrolled in supervised daycare programs, a figure far lower than in other major cities. By comparison, supervised enrollment stands at 44 percent in Bnei Brak, 45 percent in Ashdod, 49 percent in Netanya, 53 percent in Haifa, 55 percent in Cholon, 58 percent in Tel Aviv-Yaffo, 61 percent in Petach Tikva, 61 percent in Rishon Letzion, and 62 percent in Beersheva.
On a nationwide level, the highest rates of supervised daycare enrollment were recorded in Ness Ziona at 97 percent, followed by Har Adar at 94 percent, Rosh Pina at 88 percent, and Ramat Hasharon at 84 percent. The lowest rates were found in the Bedouin municipalities of Rahat, Arara, and Kuseife, where only 12 percent of young children attend licensed facilities.
The findings were presented to the Knesset Education Committee, which held a joint session with the Welfare Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child following the deaths of four-month-old Leah Goloventzitz and six-month-old Aharon Katz.
Both infants died, and another 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees, in an incident last Monday at an unlicensed daycare in Yerushalayim. Three caregivers from the facility were arrested in connection with the case.
Video footage from the scene indicated severe overcrowding, and police believe the two babies died from heat exhaustion and dehydration caused by a malfunctioning heating system.
Chareidi politicians have argued that the tragedy stemmed from efforts to conscript chareidi men into the IDF, which resulted in a 2024 High Court of Justice ruling ordering cuts to daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders, although the prevalence of unlicensed daycare centers predates that decision by many years.
During Monday’s discussion in the Education Committee, Labor MK Naama Lazimi accused United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Yitzchok oldknopf of trying “to whitewash the disaster” and said he was “part of the problem.”
Committee chairman Zvi Sukkot of Religious Zionism responded by accusing Lazimi of inciting against the chareidi public.
Goldknopf said that while his party supports steps to prevent similar tragedies, he believes the caregivers involved were treated too harshly by authorities.
“They were held for several days in jail,” he said. “Whatever happened is in the past — you can’t charge someone if you don’t know they’re guilty.”
Likud MK Keti Shitrit, who heads the Committee on the Rights of the Child, expressed alarm that nearly half of Israel’s children under 3 are placed in unlicensed daycare environments.
“Why are the babies being neglected? There is a grave manpower shortage. Fifty percent of caregivers leave during the year. Parents are forced to send their kids to unsupervised daycares,” she said.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch told lawmakers that shutting down illegal daycare operations requires coordinated action across multiple authorities, and said his ministry lacks the ability to address the issue on its own.
“Pirate daycare centers are a phenomenon that has existed for decades. It is clear that we are trying to ensure that as many daycare centers as possible are licensed and supervised, but without cooperation between the police, the prosecutor’s office, local government and government ministries, we will not be able to deal with this,” Kisch said.
“I do not have the information or the authority to go to a neighborhood and check one apartment or another to see if there are children inside or not. Since the issue was transferred to the Education Ministry, thousands of kindergartens have registered and come under supervision,” he added.
{Matzav.com}
The Shin Bet on Monday disclosed fresh information about the intelligence trail that enabled Israeli forces to retrieve the body of Ran Gvili, the final deceased hostage held in Gaza.
The agency said that roughly a month earlier, Israeli forces carried out an operation in southern Gaza City in which an Islamic Jihad operative was captured. The suspect had taken part in combat activity against IDF troops during the war and was transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.
According to the Shin Bet, the detainee confessed during interrogation to being involved in moving Ran Gvili’s body between multiple locations and provided the names of additional terrorists who were aware of where he was ultimately buried.
Information gathered through the investigation reinforced intelligence assessments that the burial site was located at the Al-Batsh cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip.
Based on that intelligence, the Shin Bet said Israeli forces launched a wide-ranging operation in the area, during which Ran Gvili’s body was located, identified, and brought back to Israel.
{Matzav.com}
President Trump said Monday that he held a productive phone conversation with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, paving the way for a meeting Tuesday between the mayor and the administration’s “border czar” following deadly shootings involving federal agents and days of violent unrest in Minnesota.
“I just had a very good telephone conversation with Mayor Jacob Frey, of Minneapolis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Lots of progress is being made!
“Tom Homan will be meeting with him tomorrow in order to continue the discussion.”
Frey, a Democrat, confirmed the call and said he welcomed the dialogue with the president.
“I expressed how much Minneapolis has benefited from our immigrant communities and was clear that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end,” the mayor wrote on X.
According to Frey, the president acknowledged that the situation on the ground was untenable.
“The president agreed the present situation can’t continue,” Frey said.
“Some federal agents will begin leaving the area tomorrow, and I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go,” he continued.
In the aftermath of the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal agents, US Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino and a number of agents have been directed to leave Minneapolis, sources told The Post.
The directive does not apply to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and does not cover all Border Patrol personnel operating in the area.
At the same time, Homan has been sent to Minnesota to assume control of immigration enforcement efforts there, replacing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Tensions escalated earlier this month when anti-ICE protester Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after she drove her SUV toward him on Jan. 7.
In a separate incident, ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed during a confrontation with Border Patrol agents. Pretti was carrying a handgun but was reportedly disarmed by agents before he was fatally shot.
{Matzav.com}
US Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino has been instructed to leave Minneapolis along with several agents, marking a sharp reversal in federal operations in the city following the deaths of two US citizens during confrontations involving federal law enforcement this month, according to reports.
The directive does not apply to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nor does it cover every Border Patrol agent stationed in the area.
Still, Fox reported that Bovino is expected to depart the state “imminently,” alongside the agents being pulled back.
Bovino has faced mounting criticism for his aggressive style of immigration enforcement, as well as for statements he made Saturday asserting that Pretti was wielding a firearm before Border Patrol agents shot him.
Unrest has gripped Minneapolis since Jan. 7, when anti-ICE protester and mother of three Renee Good, 37, was fatally shot by an ICE agent after she drove her SUV toward him.
The situation escalated further on Saturday with the killing of a second American, Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse. Authorities believe an accidental discharge from his own gun — after it had been taken from him — may have prompted agents to open fire.
According to officials, Pretti had a pistol tucked into his waistband when he stepped between a protester and ICE agents. Border Patrol agents tackled him, disarmed him, and he was shot and killed during the ensuing struggle.
Following Pretti’s death, tensions surged to a breaking point, with some Republicans openly calling for the Department of Homeland Security to remove its personnel from the city — a notable divergence from President Trump’s immigration agenda.
Over the weekend, Bovino repeatedly labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” claimed he intended to “massacre” immigration officers, and accused Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, of “inciting” the disorder.
President Trump, however, struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday, indicating progress in discussions with Minnesota’s governor.
“Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a sharp warning after the government postponed a vote on the state budget, signaling that the delay could trigger the collapse of the Knesset.
The budget had been set for a vote on Monday, but the schedule was pushed to Wednesday after the chareidi parties refused to back it, citing the government’s failure to advance a Draft Law.
The chareidi factions, United Torah Judaism and Shas, said they would not support the budget until they are able to meet with the Knesset’s legal adviser about the status of the Draft Law.
Their insistence stems from a desire to first clarify legal issues surrounding the promotion of the conscription legislation with the Knesset’s legal advisers.
In response, Smotrich delivered a blunt message to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, declaring, “If the budget does not pass today, it does not pass at all. Let’s dissolve the Knesset.”
Until Monday morning, coalition leaders believed that Shas and Degel Hatorah would back the budget in its first reading, based on an understanding that the second and third readings would move forward only after the Draft Law was passed.
That expectation unraveled when the chareidi parties informed Netanyahu they would not support the vote as planned and asked for a postponement. Netanyahu agreed to delay the vote in order to address unresolved legal concerns.
Amid the growing crisis, Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting that included Smotrich, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, and Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism.
{Matzav.com}
By Rabbi Shraga Freedman
I wanted to share with Matzav readers a powerful story that took place in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy that occurred in Yerushalayim last week, when two young children died in a charedi daycare. It appears that there was overheating, and as a result, two infants, one three months old and one six months old, were niftar, R”l.
I believe the story below captures something profound about how the Jewish people can navigate deep and painful machlokes within our nation.
The tensions in Israel between the charedi community and the rest of the population are currently at an all time high. Many people have accused the charedi public of an overall culture of lawlessness.
One such person is Chaggai Luber. Chaggai, a religious Zionist, lost his twenty four year old son, Yonatan, in Gaza last year. He has since been an outspoken critic of certain aspects of the charedi world.
This past week, Chaggai joined the many Israelis who felt anger, and even a sense of smugness in reaction to the daycare tragedy.
He wrote in a post:
“And I too participated yesterday, at least as a listener, in the collective frenzy.
And I too clicked my tongue at “the irresponsible parents….”
And I too read about “a culture of contempt, lawbreaking, and irresponsibility among the charedim.”
And I too hurried to reach a verdict and take a stance.
And I too wallowed in that same murky swamp.”
But then he wrote that his wife reminded him of something. Chani Katz, the mother of one of the children who died in that daycare, had once visited the Luber family during their shiva.
Not only that, but when she came, she brought with her a heart shaped necklace bearing Yonatan’s image. It was part of a large jewelry project she launched after October 7, to commemorate those who were killed in the war.
In a social media post, Chaggai wrote that in that moment everything changed. The charedim were no longer a faceless group to criticize. They were people. Brothers and sisters. Broken parents.
He wrote:
והיא עמדה לפני, אמא במלא כאבה,
במלא צערה.
במלא אובדנה
“And I saw her standing before me. A mother filled with hurt. Filled with pain. Filled with loss.”
ומה קרה לי, אב שכול שהצטרפתי לחגיגה
ונסחפתי, אפילו במחשבה, לאותו מחול האשמות נורא.
כשהמתים עוד מוטלים לפנינו, עוד לפני הקבורה.
“What happened to me, a bereaved father, that I joined in the celebration against the charedim? That I got carried away, even if only in thought, into that terrible dance of blame, while the dead were still before us, even before burial?”
והתחרטתי וכמעט שקרעתי קריעה
“And I regretted it. And I almost tore my clothes in mourning.”
This story, I believe, carries within it an answer to the existential struggle of painful machlokes in Klal Yisrael. We can disagree strongly, even passionately, and still truly feel another person’s pain. We can see the most human side (tzelem elokim) of those with whom we differ.
Chani Katz, who carried her own ideological worldview, nevertheless entered the home of grieving parents and joined them in their mourning. Her ability to feel the pain of others created a remarkable transformation in someone who had been emotionally closed off to her world.
This is the challenge of our generation. How to defend Torah values with vigor and conviction, while remaining faithful to Torah’s call for love, dignity, and respect. We can unequivocally reject ideas without rejecting people.
And perhaps the most compelling defense of our values is not the force of condemnation, but the integrity of our conduct. Living as a reflection of Hashem, as mekadshei Hashem, to the point that the Name of Heaven becomes beloved through us.
(This story was adapted with permission from the following article: https://nertamid.net/sermons/praying-for-the-ayatollah-parshas-bo/)
Rabbi Shraga Freedman
Living Kiddush Hashem Foundation
Email LivingKiddushHashem@gmail.com for a free file of stories and sefer Mekadshei Shemecha. Visit LivingKiddushHashem.org for more resources.
