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Controversy over Sabbath work on railways set to continue
Ultra-Orthodox political leaders have again expressed their firm opposition to work on Israel’s railways over the Jewish Sabbath, reigniting potential political tension and possible commuter disruption.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who heads Shas, plus Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni, both of United Torah Judaism (UTJ), released a joint statement yesterday in reference to maintenance work which is scheduled to take place this evening after the Jewish Sabbath begins. They said: “The construction on the Sabbath is very severe, and we protest this attack on the honour of the Sabbath.”
The statement conceded that “construction has been reduced significantly” on the Sabbath since controversy over the issue began several weeks ago, but accused the police of “acting unprofessionally” by insisting “that the work be done on the Sabbath eve when it could be done during the week”.
Yesterday, the police issued notification that lanes on the Ayalon motorway in Tel Aviv, one of the country’s busiest, will be closed overnight tonight to enable renovations to take place at an adjacent railway station. The police said that they had been asked for an opinion on the work by the Transport Ministry and concluded that carrying out the work during the week “would lead to significant traffic paralysis in metropolitan Tel Aviv, which in many common situations could seriously endanger life for many citizens”.
The renovations have been a major political issue during the past several weeks. The ultra-Orthodox leaders regard such work as a desecration of the Sabbath and have indicated that it could imperil their place in the coalition. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that the work be halted just minutes before the Sabbath began, which caused massive disruption for commuters at the start of the following week.
The High Court has since ruled that only the Transport Minister Haim Katz, and not Netanyahu, has the jurisdiction to halt railway maintenance work on the Jewish Sabbath.