The city of Ashdod appears to be a the forefront of efforts to maintain and break the Shabbos status quo, as Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman last Shabbos R”L decided to visit and give a chizuk to stores operating, being Mechalel Shabbos.

On the other side, the city has been in the news over the summonses issues in recent weeks to stores operating on Shabbos. Interestingly, if one takes a look at the city’s history, Shabbos enforcement was indeed a priority, albeit a waning one for City Hall.

According to information gathered and published by attorney Ori Paz, who is fighting to maintain the Shabbos status quo, in 2010 inspectors issues 3,074 summonses for operating illegally on Shabbos as compared to only 238 in all of 2017 as per the latest update from May. In 2016, the decline is already evident, with a total of 401 summonses issued for the year and in 2015, that number was 442 and 194 in all of 2013.

If one looks at the early years of the tenure of Mayor Dr. Yechiel Lasri, the picture was a different one. In 2008 the city issues 1,325 summonses and 1,815 in 2009. The record was 2010, with 3,074 as mentioned.

According to Paz, today the situation has changed dramatically and there are 230 stores operating on Shabbos, on a regular basis, yet the number of summonses issued continues to drop.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)