Bennett revives long weekend
Photo: Ido Erez
Long weekend, good for business. Silvan Shalom
Photo: Ofer Amram
Bennett strives to shorten work week: The Habayit Hayehudi
party is expected to revive the proposal to turn Sunday into a sabbatical,
extending the Israeli weekend to Sunday while turning Friday into a short work day.
The proposal will be presented Sunday during the initial stages of government coalition negotiations between Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi and representatives of the Likud-Beiteinu.
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The Habayit Hayehudi says that the proposal will be one of the central tenets of their coalition demands for joining Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
A party source noted, "This is a social initiative that will benefit families, designating Sunday for shopping, leisure and trips," thus alleviating Saturday's burden.
The source further said that "the initiative is likely to lead to an extended school day during the rest of the week, in a desire to facilities women integration into the work force; as well as foster religious publics' integration into Israeli leisure cultural and activities," which had been unavailable to those who observe Shabbat (Saturday)."
A hard week's night
It is worth noting that a similar initiative to extend the weekend and turn Sunday into a day of rest had been proposed and promoted by Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom, who believed it would aid Israel's economy, but the initiative failed to mature into a concrete law proposal.
In 2011, Prime Minister Netanyahu tasked the Head of the National Economic Council, Professor Eugene Kandel, with examining the possibility of making Sunday an additional day of rest instead of a regular work day.
Habayit Hayehudi representatives will arrive for the first of two negotiation sessions scheduled to take place Sunday and Monday.
In addition to demanding a long weekend, the party is expected to focus on the issues of equal share of the burden, housing and expense of living.
Moran Azulay is a Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent