Feiglin calls for Ben Gurion Airport, public broadcaster to shut down on Shabbat

Zehut chairman Moshe Feiglin said Ben Gurion Airport and Israel’s Kan public broadcaster should cease operating on Shabbat, while defending his opposition to legislation that would impose a nationwide ban on public transportation during the Jewish day of rest.

The remarks came ahead of Tuesday’s election and after Feiglin, who is No. 2 on the far-right Religious Zionism-Zehut slate, said earlier Sunday that he would vote against such a blanket prohibition, including in communities where buses already operate on Shabbat.

At a conference on Sunday, Feiglin was asked whether he would bring down a bill banning public transportation on Shabbat across Israel, including in places where such services have operated for years. He answered that he would.

During the broader discussion, Feiglin argued that Israel’s Jewish character should be strengthened without having the central government dictate every aspect of religious observance at the local level.

Feiglin later Sunday posted a video response rejecting claims that his answer meant he embraced public transportation on Shabbat.

“Since this morning, a false and ugly spin has been spread against me, and they are trying to cut half a sentence to present me as someone who decided to support public transportation on Shabbat,” he said.

מי שמחריב את השבת אלו חוקי הכפייה.
​30 שנה עסקנים פוליטיים מנפנפים בחוקי סרק פופוליסטיים.
מה קיבלנו מזה? יותר שבת? יותר קירוב? בדיוק להפך. קיבלנו שנאה, ריאקציה ומלחמות אחים.
​העמדה שלי ברורה:
מדינת ישראל חייבת לשמור על צביון יהודי ממלכתי מובהק (נתב"ג וערוץ 11 צריכים להיות… pic.twitter.com/M6Q17lv4YT

— משה פייגלין Moshe Feiglin (@moshefeiglin) October 25, 2026

Feiglin said his position distinguishes between national institutions representing the state and decisions concerning individual communities.

“State institutions must maintain a distinctly Jewish character,” he said. “Ben Gurion Airport, as the national airport, should be closed on Shabbat, as should Channel 11 as a public broadcaster, and the Jewish identity must not be harmed in any way.”

Addressing his answer at the conference, Feiglin said the question had been posed at the very end of the interview as a hypothetical choice over a law that would outlaw Shabbat transportation everywhere, including in places where it had long existed.

He said he opposed such legislation because Israelis had had enough of “political provocation laws whose sole purpose is to ignite a civil war in Israel.”

“Judaism is based on freedom of choice and not coercion,” Feiglin said, arguing that decades of legislation intended to enforce religious observance had instead deepened social divisions.

Feiglin pointed to past legislation restricting businesses from opening on Shabbat, arguing that it had failed to achieve its stated purpose while provoking political and legal battles. He also cited the Na’im Busofash weekend transportation network in the Tel Aviv area as an example of what he said was the backlash produced by coercive legislation.

“I will never cooperate with populist, empty laws that destroy Shabbat under the guise of protecting it,” he said. “I do not believe in coercion. I believe in the people of Israel and in their eternal connection to their Jewish identity through choice and dialogue.”

Feiglin’s call to shutter the airport on Shabbat was not new, and reflects a distinction he has long drawn between state institutions and private life. Zehut’s platform has called for state institutions to adhere to Jewish law and tradition, while Feiglin has also advocated reducing government involvement in areas such as marriage and other personal choices.

The final pre-election polls released last week showed Religious Zionism-Zehut winning six-eight seats in the election.