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Photo: Meir Ohayon
Anti-Likud protests in Eilat
Photo: Meir Ohayon

Eilat supermarket owners picket Likudiada

Attendees of ruling Likud party's annual conference in Eilat resort town face dozens of local residents protesting Supermarket Law and their city not being excluded from it; 'Likud passed the law and then shamelessly came down to celebrate in our city, we want tourists to keep coming,' protesters said.

Some 30 residents of the southern resort city of Eilat demonstrated Thursday opposite attendees of the Likudiada, the ruling Likud party's annual gathering. Locals protested their city not being excluded from the Supermarket Law's purview, two days after the Knesset passed the law with the slimmest of margins.

 

 

The legislation, which will give the interior minister authority to strike down municipal bylaws—including those permitting some businesses to open on Shabbat—was passed with a narrow majority of 58 in favor and 57 opposed.

 

Some of the protesters congregating outside the city's Club Hotel location were supermarket owners, who arrived clad in black t-shirts emblazoned with, "They are celebrating on Shabbat shutting down Eilat" and "Likud sold Eilat."

 

Eilat resident protesting the Likudiada (Photo: Meir Ohayon)
Eilat resident protesting the Likudiada (Photo: Meir Ohayon)
 

During the protest, Likud activists clashed with locals after the latter group raised a drawing showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urinating on residents with the caption, "It's not rain, it's Bibi."

 

The Eilat resident who hoisted the sign defended himself by saying, "There's no other way to explain it."

 

Eilat supermarket owner and one of the protest's initiators Momo Bitton said, "We're here to strike down the Supermarket Law, because it effectively shut down our city. Likud passed the law just this week and then shamelessly came down to celebrate in our city—which is supposed to shut down on Shabbat according to their own law. You can't shut down the city and then come celebrate here."

 

"They're ignoring us. People dreamt up this law for political purposes, and then forced it on an entire country, especially on a tourist hotspot like Eilat. If Eilat is good enough to party in, why shut it down? If it good enough for conferences, parties and the Likudiada, why shut it down? I don't think we should be hosting them after what they did to us," Bitton concluded.

 

Member of Eilat's city council Matan Be'eri was also behind the protest. "Eilat residents are here to protest the Supermarket Law opposite the Likudiada. The law is against both (residents') political opinions and moral stances. Eilat is an equitable, pluralistic tourist destination, with religious people living alongside secular people for many years.

 

Likud activist and Eilat resident Mazgini confronting protesters (Photo: Meit Ohayon)
Likud activist and Eilat resident Mazgini confronting protesters (Photo: Meit Ohayon)

 

"We demand Eilat be excluded from the law and to pass a municipal amendment reserving the right for residents to keep their businesses open on Shabbat. We want tourists to keep coming to this place and have a good time, and for the city to not be shuttered on Shabbat," Be'eri elucidated.

 

Another Eilat resident, Benny Mazgini, is a longtime member of the Likud Central Committee and confronted his fellow residents. "This protest is relevant," he claimed, "but it should nevertheless be cultured and respectful. As an Eilat resident I sympathize with them, I just don't like the idea of mixing what's been happening with the prime minister and the supermarket situation here."

 

"I'm stating that I know full well no businesses will close on Shabbat, in Eilat or anywhere else in the country," Mazgini asserted.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.12.18, 13:39
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