Police prepare for Shabbat protest
Hundreds of Jerusalem Police officers to take part in maintaining order on two fronts – Intel offices in Har Hotzvim, and Karta parking lot, as ultra-Orthodox community plans massive protest against work on Shabbat
The Jerusalem Police are reinforcing their forces ahead of two haredi protests expected to take place in the capital on Saturday. The first is expected to begin around 11 am local time, near the Intel company's offices in the Har Hotzvim neighborhood, and the second will take place later Saturday afternoon on Shivtei Yisrael Street.
Both demonstrations are part of the ultra-Orthodox community's "Shabbat war", in protest of the electronic chip maker's plans to open on Shabbat and against the opening of the Karta parking lot in the city on the day of rest.
Hundreds of police officers will take part in maintaining public order, this despite the haredi community's promise to hold a quiet protest, without involving youths and children.
Still, the Jerusalem Police are not taking any chances, and are preparing for the possibility of riots and disturbances at both locations.
A police source told Ynet that they will not allow ultra-Orthodox protesters to break in to Intel's offices or block the entrance to the Karta parking lot or junctions around the haredi neighborhoods.
Past protest near Karta parking lot (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
While Intel-Jerusalem has operated for over 20 years near the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, the haredim claim that no one was aware of the fact that the company has been desecrating Shabbat for years now.
"There were always rumors, but it wasn't official," a member of the haredi community told Ynet. However, a former Jerusalem Municipality office said that former Mayor Uri Lupolianski and his deputies were certainly aware of the company's activity on Shabbat.
In 2008, Intel closed its ageing Fab 8 chip plant in the capital, and started converting the facility to a die preparation plant. The new plant is slated to open on Sunday, with work on the weekends expected to take place.
'No change in status-quo'
Meanwhile, Intel has prepared for the worst, and on Thursday placed a barbed wire fence on top of the existing iron fence surrounding its complex.
"We have always worked according o the company's needs. If the needs call for it, we work on Shabbat as well. It is all in accordance with the law. There has been no change in the status-quo," Intel Israel spokesman Kobi Becker told Ynet.
Heads of the ultra-Orthodox community on their part deny that they had silently agreed to Intel's desecration of Shabbat in the past.
Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, secretary of the Council for the Sanctity of Shabbat, said the council had no knowledge of Intel's employment of workers on Shabbat, and if it had heard about earlier, it would have acted at the time.
"We do not search for Shabbat desecration, but if something like this comes to our attention, we deal with it," Goldknopf explained, "Now that residents have come to us, MK Uri Maklev and the greatest sages of Israel who heard about it - we protest."
Chairman of the Edah Haredit's Shabbat Committee, Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld added, "There were always rumors that Intel opened on Shabbat, but it was not official. We feared, we suspected, but we didn't know precisely."
Rosenfeld said that several employees complained to MK Maklev of the Shabbat desecration. The MK in turn contacted the company's heads, and they confirmed that it was indeed working on Shabbat. "It's true that back then it was hundreds of workers and now it's only 15, but this time it is much more serious," he said, "It's official, and Intel have made it clear that they refuse to stop it."
