Ultra-Orthodox Knesset leaders demand meeting with PM over Shabbat controversy
Decision to renovate Tel Aviv’s HaShalom train station on a Saturday to avoid weekday traffic interruptions, causes uproar among Haredi MKs and ministers; Ministers Deri and Litzman consider demanding the dismissal of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, and MK Moshe Gafni, who head the Knesset's two ultra-Orthodox parties, conducted a conference call Saturday evening, and considered demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fire Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz over the fact that the latter approved the decision to conduct renovations of the HaShalom train station in Tel Aviv on Saturday, during the Shabbat.
In a joint statement, the three said they "Painfully protest the needless violation of the Shabbat in the Tel Aviv (train station renovations)." They emphasized that this constituted "a violation of the previous agreements with the transportation minister, and undermined the status quo."
Minister Katz visited the station Saturday evening, saying, "I'm glad it all ended well and am sorry for the inconvenience caused to drivers. The work done over the weekend was something that was both needed and essential. There was no other way. I operated in accordance with the law and the status quo. I would not agree to cancel the work despite the pressure to do so. I am a traditional man and was sorry about the position taken by the heads of the ultra-Orthodox parties."
He claimed that in the end, everyone supported the renovations, even the ultra-Orthodox politicians.
MK Gafni responded, saying, "The work could have been done on a weekday and not on the Shabbat. There was no agreement over working on the Shabbat. Apparently lying is part of Yisrael Katz's profession."
