Charedi faction leaders in the Knesset have demanded that a change be made to the law regarding the allotted working and resting hours of employees with regards to Israel Railways and the construction taking place under their auspices. The Charedi party leaders demanded from the Minister appointed over the bill that he take into account Jewish and Israeli heritage and allow the Minister to refuse work permits issued for work that would take place on Shabbat anywhere along the railway lines in the country, as well as for other national institutions and companies.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed a representative fo the Likud party to take part in the discussions that ensued with the Charedi party leaders. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin sat with Charedi leaders in order to discuss with them the issues surrounding the topic. Minister Levin pointed out that should the Likud, together with the current government, make such a change to the law, it would act as fuel for the fire of the Yesh Atid party and come back to harm the Charedi parties in future elections.

Ministers Yaakv Litzman, Aryeh Deri and MK Moshe Gafni as well as legal advisors and other members of the Charedi parties sat with Levin and presented a new text for the bill – one that was acceptable to the Likud party as well. The new text is aimed at putting an end to the desecration of Shabbos that is taking place during the construction hours that run into the holy day.

The new text swallows the stipulation that the Minister keep in mind the Jewish tradition of not working on Shabbos and spreads it out over three paragraphs, making it less cumbersome and less worthy of attention by the Yesh Atid party. Because of the agreement by all sides regarding the new text and its proposed placement as an addendum to the pre-existing bill, the Charedi parties together with Likud have agreed to push the proposal forward and attempt to turn it into law. Minister Litzman, who originally raised the topic of the desecration of Shabbos by the Israel Railways corporation due to the construction of new rail lines, mainly in the areas of Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak, said that: “Chilul Shabbos is our red line.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)