Minister of Labor (Likud) Chaim Katz told Yediot Achronot that Israel Railways’ Shabbos safety work would continue despite opposition by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Katz explained that he and he alone has the authority to approve of deny the Shabbos permits and he has issued the permits and the work will continue this coming Shabbos, adding if this leads to escalating the dispute between him and the Prime Minister.
Katz adds that for him, each case will be weighed and in this case, the work being carried out is safety related and as such, he will continue issuing permits for Shabbos maintenance.
Katz was critical over the way in which the Israel Railways’ episode was handled, adding that during Aryeh Deri’s tenure as Minister of the Economy, he (Deri) permitted Israel Railways’ chilul Shabbos.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
FIRE KATZ!
Gee,it’s amazing but in the U.S. highways and train routes get built and maintained without workers working on Saturday or Sunday!
In a Jewish state we can get by without having work done on Shabbat!
This guy should be careful about insisting on Chilul Shabbos. Sometimes it backfires in this world!