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Ministers thwart Shabbat legislation
Gilad Morag, Moran Azulay
Published: 30.06.14, 00:21
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18 Talkbacks for this article
1. Come and live in Haifa !!!
Non Jewish Immigrant ,   Haifa   (06.30.14)
We have shops open on Saturdays and buses too!!!
2. Open markets are optional, functioning busses NOT!
tom ,   tel aviv   (06.30.14)
3. Don't defile Shabbat
Saba Avraham ,   Netivot area   (06.30.14)
It's because of people like you that we need these laws to be upheld. Israel is a Jewish country where Shabbat is respected even if you are not religious.
4. We must keep the Shabbat!
Beth ,   USA   (06.30.14)
While the world falls apart all around us, we must stay strong and keep the Shabbat. We must be a light to the nations!
5. The Justice Minister is Unjust
Norman Gellman ,   Rehovot   (06.30.14)
Justice Minister Livini is unjust in abstaining from the vote instead of voting in its favor. She has sentenced all those non-religious who do not have private transportation to house arrest during the Sabbath.. Is this another step in turning Israel int a theocracy?
6. #5 you are rich aren't you?
(06.30.14)
Poor people need Shabbat so they can rest with their families. No Shabbat means inhuman capitalists like you force the poor to work 24/7 to serve you.
7. Keep religious coercion out of Tel Aviv
Mally ,   TA   (06.30.14)
Nobody is forcing religious people to shop on Saturday. It is the year 2014 and for those that want to live a religious life style can go live in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is the secular capital and its our right to live the life we want without other people forcing their religious rules on us. The more laws they introduce the more people will turn away from religion. We can all help by supporting those shops that open on Saturday and i for one will fight for my right from religious coercion.
8. DON'T force Arabs & the world to recognize Israel as Jewish
Chaim ,   Israel   (06.30.14)
if it's not. Jewish Goyim who do not want to follow the Jewish laws should be thrown out of Israel and back to Europe or the US. THESE JEWISH GOYIM ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL EVIL BEFALLING THIS HOLY LAND.
9. #8 Chaim please, they are not goyim...
Yitzchak ,   Tel Aviv, Israel   (06.30.14)
They are merely Jewish anti-semites! Korach was NOT a goy. Just an anti-God and an anti-semite Jew!
10. Why shops should remain closed on Shabbat
Imagine ,   Tel Aviv   (06.30.14)
Even if you do not keep Shabbat, respect one day of rest for families to be reunited. Even if you do not respect family values, tthere must be a limit to any consumers society. If you want to break all limits, you'll end up being both broke and broken.
11. To No. 8.
Bertram ,   London, UK   (06.30.14)
Your hypocrisy is a wonder to behold. It was clearly fine to rely on 'Jewish Goyim' to play a major - if not the major - role in securing the State of Israel in 1948 and to continue to defend the country against all kinds of threats. However, it is clearly not fine to accommodate their demands to exclude religous coercion from their lives. No-one is arguing that you, Chaim, should be forced to drive or use any other form of transport on Shabbat, nor to go shopping on Shabbat. If others wish, however, to do so, then you should respect that, too. Apart from those with a Taliban frame of mind, everyone wins.
12. A message to ALL of my dear Israeli brothers & sisters:
Lavy Tzurayqi   (06.30.14)
This post is neither the product of a paranoid mind nor of a prowling "troll." You'll have to take my word for it, but I spent several years at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzelia, where I studied Israeli politics and governance. This message is for ALL Israeli citizens, because this is an issue of the utmost importance for each and every one of us... If you care about this nation of ours - whatever your political and/or religious proclivities may be - then I sincerely implore you to focus on the real issue here; don't be duped by these crooked politicians, and don't let these amoral "journalists" distract you with the (rather tempting) subterfuge which they are frantically spinning. They are both cynically fanning the flames of our own "sectarian" divisions here, hoping that we will take the bait and leap into the fray. Desparate to delay their looming demise, brought about by new forms of media and the blogosphere, these terminally ailing "news" outlets capitalize on the outrageous headlines that a topic like this can generate - and they twist it as far as they can... and while we're busy screaming at each other, the true villians - governmental gangsters - breathe a collective sigh of relief as they slink back into the shadows... where they will continue to not only break our laws with impunity, but to profit on a breathtaking scale, as they steal and extort untold billions by controlling this system of enshrined structural illegality. Let me be perfectly clear: This is NOT about "religious coercion or insidious fundamentalism," and this is NOT about "insolent anti-Jewish heretics." This is about institutionalized corruption, nepotism, bribery, greed, conspiracy and collusion. This is about EXPLOITATION and CRIMINALITY. What on earth am I ranting about? In a nutshell, Israeli Law - passed in the early years of the State by the SECULAR, SOCIALIST, LIBERAL Politicians who dominated the Israeli political scene at the time - unequivocally PROHIBIT businesses from operating on Shabbat. As in, it is AGAINST THE LAW. Period. Yes, that means that the countless businesses which are open on Shabbat in Tel-Aviv are doing so ILLEGALLY. But thats not the ugly part of this mess. Quite a while back, when the powerful "chains" and franchises began showing up over here, they discovered that it was far easier to obliterate small-businesses in cities like Tel-Aviv than just about anywhere else on the planet. See, before it was understood just how much money could be extorted by the Tel-Aviv municipality and local gov., thepolice still issued fines for business which openly defied the law by running on Shabbat. But see, these fines were peanuts compared to the cash which these big chains were raking in, whereas the already decimated small-business owners could either let the fines slowly bleed them into foreclosure, or they could obey the law and let the AM-PM's monopolize the Shabbat market - either way, small-business owners had no chance of survival whatsoever. Thats when the racket really got going, because the "weak" (ie. honest) businesses had either closed up or been gobbled up by the victorious corporations - and now the real extortion and bribery could begin. Anyone out there want to make a guess as to how much cash could be made when you can set the price for police protection and legal immunity on Friday night - "Party Night" - in Israel's "Party City?" Yes, this - THIS - is the "status quo" which the good mayor of Tel-Aviv is fighting to protect. Because, this is about freedom from religous coercion, not about the gold in his Swiss bank-accounts, right? ;)
13. #11 Except that Israel for thousands of years...
Yitzchak ,   Tel Aviv, Israel   (06.30.14)
existed as a "Taliban" type state. And when Israel became secular 2,000 years ago, God destroyed it. Those who don't want a religious state can do like YOU - live outside of Israel!
14. Israel Exists Only Because It Should Be...
Reuven Brauner ,   Raanana, Israel   (06.30.14)
Jewish. And by Jewish, I mean Sabbath observant, at least in public. Once it becomes officially acceptable to desecrate the Sabbath, you no longer have a Jewish country. Take out the juice from the grape and all you have is a useless skin. Tel Aviv is leading the way to a civil war between those who wish to create a state based on Torah morality, ethics and observance and one which will end up promoting perversity, immorality, atheism, hedonism and paganism along with sanctioning intermarriage and assimilation. Ultimately, the two worlds will be unable to get along and we will have their two-state solution.
15. #11 We must STOP Secular Coercion in the Jewish state
Chaim ,   Israel   (06.30.14)
Haredim who have been living in Israel hundreds of years before the Zionists came in 1948 weren't persecuted like they are today by these Jewish Goyim, these self-hating Jews. These Zionist Goyim, these lawless people, are a shame to Judaism and a shame to humanity. If they can't behave like Jews, they should go back to Europe or wherever they came from.
16. To No. 15 - and others
Bertram ,   London, UK   (06.30.14)
You prove my point exactly. When those who preach intolerance claim they are being persecuted it is a new take on chutzpah. Much like the boy who has murdered his parents and pleads for mercy before the court because he is an orphan.
17. 15 Chaim, Stop it !
ORA ,   JERUSALEM   (06.30.14)
You are killing a wonderful job Lev Arachim and many others are doing by teaching successfully ,smart Secular Jews Tora, while giving them It's exquisite taste .
18. Israel is for ALL Jews
Liam ,   Israel   (06.30.14)
Israel is for ALL Jews, secular or religious. Live and let live
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