Deri urges AG to revisit Shabbat mini-market case

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri requests the attorney general order another High Court of Justice hearing on allowing convenience stores in Tel Aviv to remain open on the Jewish day of rest.

Deri tells Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit that the court’s ruling was flawed and that it was not aware when reaching its decision that he as interior minister had struck down the law, a statement from his spokesman says.

Illustrative: Israelis shop at the AM:PM convenience store in Tel Aviv on July 4, 2014. (Flash90)

Last week, the High Court upheld a 2014 Tel Aviv City Council ordinance allowing the stores to remain open on Shabbat, with the court saying it would protect the cosmopolitan character of the coastal and mostly secular city.

Deri’s claim that he had already struck down the bylaw appears to be an attempt to invalidate the High Court’s standing to rule on the issue, which on;y reached the court after his predecessors refused to rule on the matter.

The statement also says that Mandelblit agreed to give an answer soon on whether he will bring the ruling to the High Court for a retrial.

— Alexander Fulbright