Haredi MKs meet with Netanyahu over Shabbat railway works

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the midst of a coalition scare sparked by train works in Tel Aviv last Shabbat.

According to previous reports, the ultra-Orthodox politicians were planning to demand the resignation of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz for what they described as a blatant breach of the “status quo” governing the relations between synagogue and state in the country.

However, it now appears that they will not seek Katz’s ouster. Instead, Netanyahu is pitching the establishment of a committee that will determine, in the future, what works are essential to the extent that they have to be carried out on Shabbat.

The ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are demanding that Jewish law be the yardstick by which such matters are determined, the report says.