Interior minister seeks Shabbat closure of Tel Aviv bodegas

In move expected to inflame secular-religious tensions, Deri wants to apply ban to all but gas stations, 3 popular entertainment venues

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem, July 17, 2016. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem, July 17, 2016. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)

With the storm over a decision to halt infrastructure work at several railway stations in Tel Aviv on Shabbat showing no sign of abating, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has been pushing ahead with a plan to force the Saturday closure of 160 stores in the city that some say never sleeps.

Deri wants a blanket Shabbat closure of all businesses in the heart of the largely secular city, including grocery stores and bodegas, Haaretz reported Tuesday.

As a compromise, he has reportedly agreed to allow a small number of popular entertainment and shopping areas to stay open on Saturday — the Jaffa Port, the Tel Aviv Port and the Old Station complex — along with gas station convenience stores.

If his move is stymied, he will present a more sweeping proposal, which has already been drafted, to legislate against all commercial activity throughout Israel on Shabbat. An Interior Ministry source told Haaretz that he would anchor the move “in primary legislation that will override all bylaws on this subject.”

The issue has been a festering sore for the ultra-Orthodox since March 2014. At that time, the Tel Aviv municipality drafted a new bylaw after the Supreme Court ordered it to either replace or enforce existing regulations against Shabbat commerce.

Tel Aviv suggested allowing 164 grocery stores and kiosks measuring 500 square meters or in size less to open on Shabbat.

Sarona market at night, with Tel Aviv's ultra-modern Azraeli tower in the background. (Shmuel Bar-Am)
Sarona market at night, with Tel Aviv’s ultra-modern Azraeli tower in the background. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

The move was never approved by the Interior Ministry. But because the ministry failed to nix the proposal within the 60-day window granted it, the Tel Aviv municipality resolved to give the green light to the 164 stores anyway.

Deri’s decision to wade into the issue has been linked to a High Court ruling, due in the coming months, on four petitions submitted against the Tel Aviv bylaw.

A committee chaired by Eli Gruner, the director of the Prime Minister’s Office, has come up with three alternative legal positions.

One would approve the Tel Aviv bylaw and allow the three main entertainment areas, as well as the 164 stores and kiosks, to operate on Saturdays. The second would reduce by 20 percent the number of businesses allowed to remain open. The third would permit the opening of the three centers plus gas station convenience stores and a reduced number of grocery stores and kiosks.

An Israeli couple sits at the Tel Aviv port boardwalk on November 15, 2014. (Danielle Shitrit/FLASH90)
An Israeli couple sits at the Tel Aviv port boardwalk on November 15, 2014. (Danielle Shitrit/FLASH90)

The ultra-Orthodox parties — Shas and United Torah Judaism — oppose all three alternatives and want the government to scrap them before any of them get to the Supreme Court.

They want the ability to make exceptions to the legislation on work and rest hours to be taken away from local authorities and placed solely in the hands of the Interior Ministry, the report said.

The Interior Ministry’s director general has reportedly already conveyed the ministry’s stand to Gruner, and intensive efforts are underway to reach a compromise. A Shas source was quoted as saying that his party would bolt the coalition should the Tel Aviv bylaw be approved.

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