The heads of Shas and Yahadut Hatorah are not seeing eye-to-eye regarding the battle to prevent Israel Railways Chilul Shabbos. Israel Railways in recent weeks has conducted major maintenance and renovations on Shabbos, taking advantage of the holy day R”L to carry out work. This has led the chareidi parties in Knesset to demand an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu after it became clear to the chareidi MKs that Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz’s promise to prevent the Chilul Shabbos was not something they can count on in this case. Yahadut Hatorah is calling for dismissing Katz from his post as a result but Shas is unwilling to back this demand.

Gafne feels Katz has lied to them as he has repeatedly promised the Israel Railways work on Shabbos would be halted but this past Shabbos, once again, the Chilul Shabbos continued on schedule. Some feel the lack of agreement between Yahadut Hatorah and Shas weakens the battle to maintain the Shabbos status quo and it signals to PM Netanyahu that the chareidim are even divided on this basic issue.

Yediot Achronot reports that persons close to Katz state PM Netanyahu personally approved the Israel Railways Chilul Shabbos so if the chareidim have a bone to pick, they should direct their anger at Mr. Netanyahu, not Minister Katz.

There are conflicting reports that due to the lack of Shas support to oust Katz, Yahadut Hatorah has backed down from this demand amid a realization it is most unlikely this will not occur.

In the past Shabbos’ work, a 560-ton structure was raised into position as part of the railway’s effort to accommodate a future electric rail line connecting Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim.

Officials in Katz’s office told the media that Minister Katz remains committed to the Shabbos status quo.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)