Netanyahu summons ultra-Orthodox ministers over Sabbath work impasse

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday summoned his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to a meeting in an attempt to find a solution to the impasse over work on the Jewish day of rest.

Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu had to cancel the weekly meeting of coalition party leaders after Health Minister Yaakov Litzman resigned his position and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri skipped a cabinet meeting, both protesting  government bodies working on Shabbat.

Litzman followed through on a threat he made to quit if maintenance work on the railways was carried out on Saturday, and Deri acted apparently after learning that a bill giving him power to decided which mini-market shops can open on Saturdays was taken off the agenda of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which must approve the bill before it can advance to a parliamentary vote.

Netanyahu reportedly held individual talks with his coalition leaders instead.

After an ongoing dispute related to the installation of a new signaling system on a track in the Negev, Litzman notified Netanyahu on Friday that if the maintenance work was conducted on Saturday, he would resign on Sunday.

The work was carried out Saturday, with Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Welfare Minister Haim Katz — who also serves as the state’s top labor regulator — insisting that delaying the maintenance work would have left the railway tracks less safe in the interim, and carrying it out during the work week would snarl traffic for days.

In a video statement, Litzman explained that he could not countenance the “state-sanctioned public desecration of Shabbat.” He tendered his resignation to Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Litzman’s resignation won’t weaken Netanyahu’s parliamentary majority, as his six-MK United Torah Judaism party plans to remain in the coalition, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Friday. The prime minister was also reportedly weighing attempting to pass an amendment to a constitutional Basic Law to allow Litzman to serve as a deputy minister in the ministry with no minister serving above him, which used to be the case and is an arrangement the High Court of Justice has ruled unlawful under current law.

Deri’s protest came in response to the delay in a ministerial debate on a so-called “mini-market bill” that would give him, as interior minister, the right to override any municipal bylaws permitting mini-markets to operate on Shabbat.

The law forbids businesses from operating during the Jewish day of rest, with exceptions including places of entertainment, restaurants and basic services such as pharmacies.

Last month the High Court of Justice rejected a petition that would prevent Tel Aviv mini-markets from operating on Shabbat, infuriating ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who vowed to bypass the court with fresh Knesset legislation.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin of the ruling Likud party is reportedly planning to propose a watered-down version of the mini-market bill.