Following a Shabbos of stormy protests in the capital decrying growing chilul Shabbos, a meeting is set to take place on Tuesday, 9 Adar, to be attended by MK Moshe Gafne and Ministers Yaakov Litzman, Aryeh Deri and Uri Ariel, all meeting with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. They will be discussing the deterioration of the Shabbos status quo in the holy city.

There is no doubt Gafne will use his position as chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee to pressure Barkat at a time the committee has to approve the city’s budget.

The mayor is also aware his coalition will not approve a new budget until such time the growing chilul Shabbos is halted. This apparently has led to the meeting with the heads of chareidi factions in Knesset as the mayor is pressured to move ahead and close the matter of the city’s budget.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)