Haredi figures call PM's concessions 'fake news'
PM Netanyahu's 'severance package' to Haredi parties following Health Minister Litzman's resignation deemed 'fake news' by ultra-Orthodox journalists; 'supermarket bill' barring Shabbat commerce has no actual significance as it does not allow to ban trade in communities where it is already in place, while Shabbat train work may be reduced, but not abolished.
Figures within the Haredi public claimed the "severance package" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided the Haredi parties with following the resignation of United Torah Judaism Health Minister Yaakov Litzman Sunday was a series of meaningless steps that at best will have no effect on Shabbat observance and at worst will only allow its desecration.
What Shas's Aryeh Deri, Litzman and their politician cohorts presented as a significant achievement for religious observance, the sector's journalists dubbed intentional "fake news" meant to allow things to return to normal and ensure the coalition's stability going forward.
The main process Likud and Haredi politicians agreed on Monday was to promote, as early as next week, the "supermarket bill," which states that a local authority will not allow Shabbat commerce in its jurisdiction unless the interior minister approves such commerce. As the current holder of that officer is Deri, who is certain to deny any such requests, Shas touted the agreement as a significant religious-political win.
However, in truth the bill only pertains to a very small number of local authorities, if any, in which municipal bylaws forbid opening businesses on the one hand and incumbent mayors wish to change the situation on the other.
In such cases the interior minister will indeed be able to veto such a move, but no city or local council is known to have contemplated it to begin with.
The supermarket bill in its current promulgation, although, does not endow Deri—or his successors—the authority to prevent Shabbat desecration in places where it is already prevalent, which includes most local authorities.
In addition, the interior minister does not have the authority to enforce municipal bylaws banning trade, nor will he be able to in the future. The end result is that the law accompanied by so much public fanfare is all but meaningless.
The Likud-Haredi agreement nevertheless earned scathing criticism from both the left and right wings. MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) insisted the supermarket bill also be applied to Tel Aviv, in which case it will turn out to be a resounding, albeit very specific, success.
In such an eventuality the bill was bypass the High Court's ruling decreeing Tel Aviv supermarkets will remain open on Shabbat, acquiescing to the Haredi demand to do so, and will have an immediate and direct influence on the city from which the Shabbat struggle originated and that has become its symbol.
A significant factor not taken into account thus far is the Union of Local Authorities in Israel (ULAI), chaired by Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Mayor Haim Bibas, one of the more prominent Likud members and a close ally of Netanyahu, who objects to endowing the interior minister with new powers at the expense of mayors and council heads and has threatened to appeal to the High Court if the plan was acted on.
"The local authority and its elected representatives know the municipality's needs and represent them optimally and the decision should therefore be theirs and theirs alone," ULAI said.
"The bill should be coordinated with the country's local government, representing all 8.6 million of Israel's citizens. Each authority has the right to select its own character and local style. Insofar as this right is curtailed, we will appeal to the High Court to decide on the matter," the Union of Local Authorities in Israel's statement concluded.
A further way of preventing Shabbat trade is by utilizing the Hours of Work and Rest Law, which bars employing Jews on Shabbat. This would appear to be an effective tool for the Haredi parties to leverage against businesses operating on Shabbat, without waging exhaustive battles on the local level.
However, it has been the Labor and Welfare Minister Haim Katz's policy to avoid enforcing the statute in the private sector. While Shas requested to allow the interior minister to enforce the matter through his ministry's Population and Immigration Police, Katz has thus far stood fast in his refusal.
The Hours of Work and Rest Law also stood at the center of another point of agreement between the Likud and Haredi parties, pertaining to solving the Shabbat train works crisis. According to the new framework, anytime the appointed minister wishes to provide an irregular permit to work on Shabbat, they must also take into account considerations having to do with Israel's traditions, or the religious ban on working during the day of rest.
While his may reduce maintenance and infrastructure work carried out by Israel Railways on weekends, it will not completely abolish it, as per Litzman's original demand. Regardless, the article in question will do nothing for Shabbat commerce, as it is not enforced.
The government's ministers have voted via telephone on the amendment to the Hours of Work and Rest Law banning Shabbat trade. The law is expected to undergo a preliminary reading in the Knesset Wednesday.
The Shabbat Equality Coalition's petition to the High Court to instruct the government to enforce the law has been pending. Its Executive Director Roy Lachmanovitz is convinced this is the key to the entire struggle's success and claimed the Haredi parties have been exerting efforts in the wrong places. "What's the point of giving the interior minister powers if he may be replaced by someone else two years from now?" Lachmanovitz wondered.
Lachmanovitz believed Litzman and Deri needed to demand amendments and adjustments to the Hours of Work and Rest Law while recruiting dozens of inspectors to enforce it.
"There are several lacunae dramatically impacting the public aspect of the day of rest. For instance, Jewish business owners employing non-Jews on Shabbat and therefore allegedly not breaking the law and, of course, the minute number of inspectors," Lachmanovitz claimed.
"Without an executive arm, the entire agreement will be for nothing. This is not what small business owners and thousands of employees were praying for. The core issues should be transformed, rather than the cosmetics of the matter," he concluded.