Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich compared student budgeting to Avrachim. Many on social media and in the political system were outraged by the comparison.
Forum economist Kahlan Nissan Avraham went so far as to confront the chairman of Religious Zionism with data that Avraham cited on his popular Twitter page. Avraham: "Look, there is inefficiency in subsidizing academia. But this comparison is outrageous. Pure populism. If we were to replace the subsidy model for AvRachim with the model of subsidies for the humanities, our economic situation would improve dramatically"