(TIMES OF ISRAEL) — Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli ordered the state-run company overseeing Tel Aviv’s under-construction light rail system to look into operating on Shabbat, hitting a third rail of Israeli politics and igniting a firestorm of criticism from ultra-Orthodox leaders.
The move by Michaeli, leader of the progressive Labor party, would upend longtime norms which prohibit public transportation on the Jewish day of rest in nearly all Jewish-majority cities, but comes after years of complaints by residents of the secular, liberal stronghold that the weekly shutdowns are a form of religious coercion.
Michaeli told Mia Likvarnik, who heads the NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System developing Tel Aviv’s light rail and subway system, to look into adopting a seven-day operating schedule, given the massive investment involved in the project. The request only relates to looking at the issue on a contractual and budgetary basis.
