One day after Interior Minister and head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Aryeh Deri sparked a firestorm by refusing to approve municipal bylaws that allow shops to operate on Shabbat, he clarified his remarks, telling Israel Hayom on Monday that he does not plan to actively crack down on businesses.
The controversy revolves around recent efforts by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers to force the closure of shops on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. The efforts have elicited a backlash from secular Israelis who do not observe the Sabbath religious laws and wish to have the freedom to work or rest as they please.
Under new legislation known as the supermarket law, the interior minister has the authority to overrule municipal bylaws that allow businesses to operate on Shabbat.
The law, which is currently being challenged in court, grants the interior minister almost complete discretion in deciding whether to approve such bylaws, unlike the previous law that gave the interior minister a passive role in the bylaw approval process.
Earlier this week, Deri struck down the bylaws of several municipalities that let businesses operate freely on Shabbat. His move drew widespread criticism.
But in private conversations, Deri insisted he refused to approve the bylaws because they were procedurally flawed. He also stressed that once bylaws are approved, their enforcement is left to the local authorities.
"I am not going to force any store to close on Shabbat and I have no power to do so because the enforcement of Shabbat regulation is carried out by the municipalities themselves," Deri told Israel Hayom.
"Any mayor who wants to keep businesses open on Shabbat can do so, and it is at that mayor's discretion to decide how to enforce the law and how to issue fines."
Deri said that attacks on him involve "a great deal of ignorance and an embarrassing amount of shallowness," and that the supermarket law "has not forced any business to close on Shabbat; this is a well-known fact."
Deri says the law "cements what has long been the arrangement in Israel since its founding: that all bylaws require the approval of the interior minister, including those that regulate the operation of businesses."
He said the bylaws that were struck down had not been properly drafted and gave blanket permission to all businesses to operate on Shabbat without proper consideration as to how this would affect residents, forcing him to intervene.
He said the bylaws were just a tactical power grab by the mayors in order to make the businesses staying open on Shabbat a fait accompli "even before the High Court of Justice hands down its ruling on the matter."
"I don't see any compelling reason to force hundreds or even thousands of workers into slavery, seven days a week," he said, referring to concerns that if businesses operate on Shabbat, employees will be pressured to work on Saturdays.
He accused his detractors of "trying to make political hay over this matter on the backs of the ultra-Orthodox, telling us that the unenlightened haredi minister is imposing his way of life on others – but this could not be farther from the truth."
