Minister Deri: No Change in Summer Time

Israel will switch to summer (daylight savings) time this Thursday night as scheduled, after an effort to postpone the change by Interior Minister Rabbi Aryeh Deri failed. Rabbi Deri had proposed that the date change be postponed to May 1st, but was opposed by the State Digital Authority, which said that changing computers, servers and other communication equipment to reflect the change from what had been programmed previously would be extremely difficult and expensive to carry out.

Minister Gila Gamliel confirmed that things would go on as previously planned. Speaking Monday to Reshet Bet, Gamliel said that “there is no change to the status of summer time. The change will go on as originally scheduled.”

The idea of postponing summer time was designed to help parents who were at home with their young children because of the coronavirus crisis. With an extra hour of daylight it was likely that more children would stay up longer, giving their parents an even harder job. Rabbi Deri said that the purpose of summer time was to reduce the use of energy in the public space, with streetlights and signs lit an hour later, but since everyone was home anyway, the energy savings this year would be negligible. The proposal had received approval from the State Attorney’s Office.