Chareidi MKs Demand PM Halt Chillulei Shabbos Work on Train

Chareidi MKs, who are part of the committee that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu arranged to oversee that there will not be any further chillul Shabbos, sent him a letter late Thursday, in which they demanded he halt the infrastructure work on the railway next to the Ayalon Highway which is set to be done this Shabbos.

In their letter, the MKs, Rabbi Uri Maklev and Rabbi Yisrael Eichler from UTJ, and Rabbi Yoav Ben-Tzur and Rabbi Michael Malkieli from Shas, wrote that the infrastructure work has been scheduled for this coming Shabbos and the next, under the auspices of the Transportation Ministry and the Labor Ministry in a blatant breach of the status quo and against the clear agreements between the government and the chareidi parties.

They ask that the prime minister personally intervene and immediately stop the unnecessary infrastructure work on Shabbos.

The ongoing chillulei Shabbos on the train line has caused much aggravation among the Shabbos-observant public. Rabbanim and public figures, as well as activists on behalf of Shabbos, raised a hue and cry and issued a call to cancel the nonurgent work.

“The factions view the situation as a serious violation of the coalition agreement,” they conclude their letter.