UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf sent an urgent letter to Transportation Minister Miri Regev on Motzei Shabbos demanding an end to all construction work on the intercity railway system on Shabbos.

The letter came after a left-wing journalist published a video of railway work being carried out this past Shabbos morning, stating: “Israel Railways – work on Shabbos. A full right-wing Chareidi government. Here’s hypocrisy for you.”

The video came to the attention of Goldknopf, who promptly took action. “It has been brought to my attention that there are works being carried out on Shabbos by Israel Railways on the Tel Aviv railway..which do not meet the definition of pikuach nefesh,” he wrote to Regev in a letter also sent to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, the heads of the coalition parties and Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev.

“As far as I understand, these works are the result of agreements signed by previous governments. In the coalition agreements signed between the Likud and UTJ parties, it was agreed that these works would be stopped.”

“We cannot reconcile ourselves to this situation,” Goldknopf warned. “I request your urgent intervention in this matter for the purpose of canceling the aforementioned agreements.”

There was no official response from the Transportation Ministry but Israeli media reports quoted unnamed ministry officials as saying that the work on Shabbos cannot and will not be stopped.

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman responded to the report by stating: “Once again Chareidi askanim are dictating to the entire public what is right and what is wrong. Stopping train works on Shabbat is an insane step that will directly affect Israel’s economy and many families in the State of Israel who travel by public transportation. Someone in the government must sober up and stop this madness.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)