Daylight Savings Time - Before or After Yom Kippur?

On Sunday the Ministerial Committee on Legislation will discuss the extension of Daylight Saving Time until October. A bill submitted by Member of Knesset Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) calls for the extension of Daylight Savings Time until late October. Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) is against the move. MK Horowitz said, "It is test of the government."

He said the bill is intended to achieve the maximum compatibility between daylight hours and the times in which the majority of the country works and attends school, thereby saving energy and reducing traffic accidents.

For the past several years, Daylight Savings Time in Israel has begun earlier in order to make Yom Kippur end earlier in the day. This enables people who fast to end their fast earlier. The fast is from sun-down to sundown starting the night before.

Horowitz, who is openly gay, and the Meretz party have been in the forefront of pushing for a more secular Israel. Yishai, who is a rabbi and the Shas party have been championing the cause of religious citizens.