Opposition aims to force Knesset discussion over train crisis

Members of the opposition announced Saturday that they have collected 25 MK signatures required to force a special committee session to discuss the decision to terminate services at several railway stations in order to allow for construction at the sites after the Sabbath.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Israel Railways to halt 17 out of 20 projects that had been scheduled to take place over the weekend, after ultra-Orthodox parties threatened to topple the coalition if work continued on the Sabbath. Work on the 17 projects would instead take place on Saturday night — after Shabbat has ended — and on Sunday, leading to the cancellation of services at several railway stations.

The canceled lines will affect some 70,000 travelers, including thousands of soldiers on mandatory military service who go home for the weekends.

“The white flag raised by Netanyahu in response to the blackmail by the religious faction, which brought about the disruption of railway traffic and thus harming the traveling public, is a scandal that must be acknowledged by the Knesset,” Meretz party member Ilan Gilon said Saturday after collecting the signatures, according to the Walla news site.

Suspending the infrastructure projects also resulted in a delay in completing the high-speed train line between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which was set to be completed in 2018 but is already behind schedule.

The three projects that were allowed to continue despite ultra-Orthodox objections were those whose delay, police said, would constitute a genuine risk to human life due to traffic complications. But, the Ynet news website said the ultra-Orthodox parties rejected the police argument, and claimed that alternative solutions should be found.

According to Jewish law, the religious rules of conduct for Shabbat, such as the prohibition to work or to operate electrical machinery and engines, can be violated when a human life is at risk. Moshe Dagan, secretary-general of the Chief Rabbinate, however, said the weekend work is not something that would save human lives and as such would not be allowed.

After construction work last week triggered a coalition crisis, Netanyahu earlier this week pacified the ultra-Orthodox parties by promising to establish an inter-ministerial committee on infrastructure work on weekends. Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, met at the Prime Minister’s Office with ministers Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett. Also present were the head of Israel Railways, the secretary general of the Chief Rabbinate and a representative from the Labor Ministry in charge of granting special weekend work permits.

The ultra-Orthodox ministers said at the meeting that keeping Shabbat is more important than providing public services. The CEO of Israel Railways, Boaz Tzafrir, said that canceling the lines would delay the delivery of goods on freight cars worth NIS 4 million.

On Friday, left-wing MKs and activists protested over Netanyahu’s decision to halt the infrastructure work non weekends. The protesters included Meretz leader Zehava Galon, the faction’s Knesset chairman Ilan Gilon, and MKs Tamar Zandberg and Michal Rozin. Standing at the Arlozorov Street train station, a public transportation hub in the heart of Tel Aviv, Galon warned that the decision could result in legal action.

“If infrastructure work does not continue as planned, Meretz will file a class action suing for hundreds of millions of shekels,” she said.

Leaders of Zionist Union, MKs Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, said their party will arrange private transportation for any soldiers adversely affected by the cancellation of the train lines.

“The ministers of this government do not care about a mother who misses her son the soldier and at the service of political interest they steal the mother and son’s quality time together,” Herzog said. Livni added: “The state of the Jewish people is not a monopoly of the ultra-Orthodox parties.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu was considering firing Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz because of the coalition crisis over railway construction on the Sabbath, Channel 10 reported Friday evening. According to the report, Netanyahu believes Katz created the crisis between Likud and leaders of ultra-Orthodox parties last week when he ordered workers to continue on railway construction projects over the weekend in order to avoid delays.

According to Channel 10, Netanyahu was fuming over both Katz, who the prime minister believes set him up for a confrontation with the ultra-Orthodox last week, but also over the Rabbinate and Chief Rabbi David Lau, who took the unusual step of publishing a statement on Friday in reaction to the opinion given by the police.

Lau “is trying to do his primaries over my back,” a Channel 10 analyst quoted Netanyahu as saying. His comments were understood to be symbolic, since Lau is not running for any position at the moment.

No official response was given by either Netanyahu’s office or the office of minister Katz to the Channel 10 report.