Jerusalem – High Court: Israel Railways Can Perform Work On Shabbat

Jerusalem – The High Court of Justice on Tuesday issued an interim order permitting Israel Railways to continue to perform work on Shabbat.

Technically, the High Court said it was just confirming the state’s position filed earlier in a written response on the issue. The High Court order also froze any left over order to stop working on the Jewish day of rest, to the extent that there was any left over ruling, due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order to halt work last weekend.

The state’s written submission was a response to a petition was filed by Meretz party leader Zehava Galon challenging the government on the constitutionality of removing Israel Railways’ permission to perform work and repairs this past weekend leading to the train shutting down on Friday, Saturday night as well as mass delays on Sunday.

The High Court had denied an emergency freeze of state policy at an unusual hearing on Saturday and asked the state to explain its position in writing.

Much of the country, especially public offices, cannot make employees work on Shabbat, but Israel Railways has had a special waiver on the issue until now.

According to the state, Israel Railways never lost the authority to have its workers perform repairs on the Jewish Sabbath, a special authority delegated to it by the government.

Rather, a unique and temporary situation arose this past weekend, but not one which in any way removed Israel Railways’ special permission on the issue.

The state argued that the entire petition refers to the situation as it was last weekend. It argues that this situation has changed and is no longer relevant, making the petition no longer relevant.

Further, the state argued that if the authority to have employees working on Shabbat is removed, it will be removed legally by the Social Welfare Minister or someone he has delegated authority to, and only after weighing other relevant public administrative law concerns.

Finally, the state noted that Israel Railways will be attending a meeting with all relevant government authorities in the near future to formulate a policy going forward, implying that it would be premature for the High Court to jump into the issue before they make a decision.

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-on said that “It is chutzpah that the state attorneys office is trying to hide behind weak procedural answers as if the matter is theoretical.”

Gal-on expressed her frustration that the state did not answer the primary question of whether Netanyahu was authorized or not to cancel railway work on Shabbat.

“The public deserves an explanation from the state attorneys office and the court and whether the prime minister violated the law and what steps need to be taken to prevent such violation from reoccurring in the future.”

Gil Hoffman contributed to this article.