Interior Minister Deri
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Deri denies threatening to quit government over 'supermarkets bill'
Interior minister claims his legislation—which would give him the authority to cancel municipal bylaws, including ones permitting some businesses to open on Shabbat—is not religious coercion: 'socially speaking, you are turning everyone, mostly the weaker parts of the population, into a nation of slaves.'
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) insisted Sunday he did not threaten to bring down the coalition government if the "supermarkets bill" he is promoting is not passed in the Knesset.
"Someone must have needed to gather up a majority that night and wanted to rouse the Likud back-benchers, telling them 'the government is about to collapse, the Knesset will dissolve, so wake up,'" Deri explained in an interview with Ynet.
"I don't make threats. When I tell the prime minister something, it stays between us. I'm not leaving home. This is my home, and I'm fighting inside of it," he added.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Photo: AFP)
The legislation Deri is promoting, dubbed "the supermarkets bill," would give him as the interior minister the authority to cancel municipal bylaws, including those permitting some businesses to operate on Shabbat.
"The last thing you can say about the 'supermarkets bill' is that it entails religious coercion," Deri asserted.
"We're the Jewish people, the first nation to bring the message to the world 3,500 years ago that one day a week, on Saturday, everyone should stop what they're doing. This message has been adopted by all nations of the world.
"Regarding commerce on Shabbat—if you open a certain category of businesses on Shabbat, like supermarkets and convenience stores, tomorrow you'd want to also open shoe stores. Then it's houseware and then it's everything. And there will be no Shabbat left in the State of Israel," he explained.
"Socially speaking, you are turning everyone, mostly the weaker parts of the population, into a nation of slaves, because those who won't be willing to work seven days a week won't be hired," Deri went on to say.
Despite Deri's claims, the Hours of Work and Rest Law determines employees must receive 36 consecutive hours of rest per week, and cannot be denied employment for refusing to work on the day of rest.
Netanyahu and Deri (Photo: Amit Shabi)
Deri was also asked about the investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and whether he expects the prime minister to resign if an indictment is filed against him.
"The law clearly states the prime minister could continue serving in his role until he has been convicted and the verdict is final," Deri said. "Do you understand what that means? Even a district court verdict can't bring down the prime minister."
