Chareidi lawmakers are working to prevent more chilul Shabbos in Tel Aviv chas v’sholom. A joint letter was sent by Ministers Aryeh Deri and Yaakov Litzman along with MK Moshe Gafne, calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to accept the recommendations of the committee of directors-general weighing the operating of stores in Tel Aviv on Shabbos. The three asked Bayit Yehudi party leader Naftali Bennet to sign the letter but he refused.

They explain in the letter that they cannot be a part of increasing sanctioned chilul Shabbos, calling on Mr. Netanyahu to postpone accepting the report at the weekly cabinet meeting as planned. They insist the existing religious status quo must be maintained and the recommendation of the committee would lead to some 160 businesses operating on Shabbos legally in Tel Aviv.

The committee has decided, as expected, to support permitting a limited number of ‘service’ businesses operate in certain areas of Tel Aviv on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)