Daylight Savings Time has begun – just two and a half weeks after the US and a few days after Europe, Israel hasalso moved its clocks forward by one hour. Daylight savings time will last for 185 days and will end October 2, between the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays.
In accordance with the 'Time Determination' law (2005), Daylight Savings Time will begin in Israel on the last Friday before April 2 at 2:00 am, and will end on the last Sunday before the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei at 2:00 am.
Yet some Knesset Members are still hard at work trying to change the law - to extend Daylight Savings Time so that it would end weeks after the date set in the law – aligning Israeli Daylight savings Time with Europe and the US.
61 MKs from a number of parties including Balad and the National Union signed a petition callingon the prime minister to set a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar that would mark the end of Daylight savings Time.
The purpose of the petition, organized in cooperation with rabbis from the Tzohar organization is to put an end to the ongoing argument that comes up every time the clocks are moved.
The period when Daylight Savings Time is in force in Israel is shorter than most of the western world: In most US states it lasts from March to November and in Europe, most countries implement Daylight Savings Time from March to October. Russia even made the decision to set the clocks permanently on Daylight Savings Time year round with some Russian states moving the clocks forward by an extra hour.
The move to Daylight savings Time in Israel has, since the 1980s been accompanied by disputes betweenreligious factions, hoping to shorten it in order to make it easier on the religious population to get up for prayers during the high holidays and the secular population wishing to improve their quality of living.
It should be noted that the same dispute also exists in the Far East where Daylight Savings Time is met with strong opposition from Fisherman and farmer organizations as well as educators who claim it makes it harder for children to wake up for school in the morning and to get their homework done. In countries such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, Daylight Savings Time is only activated on some years if any.