Talks on Shabbat train coalition crisis to resume Friday

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yaakov Litzman on Thursday failed to reach a compromise over the ongoing infrastructure work on rail lines during Shabbat, after the ultra-Orthodox coalition member threatened to quit the government over the issue.

The late-night talks that included the participation of Welfare Minister Haim Katz continued until after midnight without reaching an agreement. The negotiations were expected to resume Friday morning.

Litzman, who leads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, has threatened to pull his party and its six Knesset members out of Netanyahu’s coalition, leaving it with 60 out of 120 Knesset members.

According to reports, the infrastructure work scheduled for the coming weekend is complex and requires the participation of over 100 Jewish workers — a particularly thorny issue for ultra-Orthodox parties.

In the past, similar crises were solved through one-time compromises that saw the use of non-Jewish workers only, but that is reportedly not possible for the upcoming project due to the nature of the work.

Earlier on Thursday, Litzman told Army Radio that carrying out infrastructure work on the Jewish day of rest was not essential, and maintained that he would resign if the work continued.

“The railway people are fooling us — the railway decided to make Shabbat the national renovations day. I can assure you, all the work can also be done not on Shabbat,” he said.

“I hope the situation will be resolved,” Litzman told the radio station. “I don’t want desecration of Shabbat and I don’t want [new] elections,” which would appear necessary if the coalition lost its majority.

In recent years, Israel Railways has undertaken a number of major projects, including a new high-speed Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line and major upgrades to existing lines.

Company officials say construction and maintenance work over the weekend helps avoid significant delays to the busy weekday schedule.

Work on the rail infrastructure on Shabbat has sparked a series of rows between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition, despite the prime minister agreeing to ban all weekend construction projects on train lines in a deal struck with the parties prior to the 2015 election.

Last year, ultra-Orthodox politicians threatened to topple the coalition if Shabbat work continued on the rail lines, causing an uproar among commuters suffering from massive traffic delays and cancellations after Netanyahu succumbed to the pressure and ordered the work stopped.

In June, ministers ceded to sustained pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, canceling weekend work on train lines in southern Israel.

At the time, Netanyahu, Katz and the heads of the ultra-Orthodox parties agreed to call off the scheduled work in favor of maintaining the “status quo” of not working on Shabbat.