Ultra-Orthodox minister confident Shabbat train work won’t go ahead

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman said Thursday that he will resign from the government if controversial work on railway infrastructure goes ahead this Shabbat, but said he was confident that it will be rescheduled for hours outside of the Jewish day of rest.

Litzman, who leads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, denied rumors that other religious lawmakers are not backing him in his threat to pull the party and its six Knesset members out of the ruling coalition, leaving it with 60 out of 120 Knesset members.

The infrastructure work planned for the coming weekend is complex and requires the participation of over 100 Jewish workers who would thus be violating the Sabbath — anathema for the ultra-Orthodox. The railways argue that doing the work during the week would cause massive disruptions and huge traffic jams across the country.

Speaking to Army Radio, Litzman said that when it comes to the sanctity of Shabbat, there would be no compromise.

“I am taking Shabbat all the way,” he said. “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 he was confident the work would be put off to another time but remained adamant that he will go ahead with his resignation threat if it isn’t.

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

“Netanyahu and I don’t want elections,” he clarified, referring to talks he had with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue.

“I have heard of ultra-Orthodox party members who aren’t with me — I don’t know about that,” Litzman added when asked about the breadth of support he has among ultra-Orthodox coalition members in threatening to rupture the government. Earlier media reports claimed that the Shas party, led by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, was not willing to quit over the rail work and would leave its seven MKs in the government.

“Aryeh Deri wanted to put out a notification yesterday that it isn’t true that he isn’t with me,” Litzman said. “I assume that [MK Moshe] Gafni is also with me.” Gafni is a fellow United Torah Judaism member.

While previous crises were solved through the use of non-Jewish workers, that is not possible in this case due to the nature of the work, Hadashot news (formerly Channel 2) reported Wednesday.

UTJ is said to be demanding that the work be put off for several weeks as the government debates new guidelines for work permits on the Sabbath, in which Jewish tradition is expected to be incorporated into considerations.

But representatives of Israel Railways told Hadashot that the infrastructure work could not be delayed. If work is not allowed this Saturday, they will be forced to carry it out next week, shutting down trains throughout the country and likely causing extreme disruptions in the nation’s transportation.

Shabbat work on the rail infrastructure has sparked a series of spats between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition, despite the prime minister having agreed 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, following sustained pressure from Shas and United Torah Judaism, ministers canceled weekend work on train lines in southern Israel.