Beersheva chief rabbi Yehuda Deri referred Tuesday to the issue of soccer games on Shabbat on which the Supreme Court is supposed to adjudicate by the 18th of September.
Deri said that the mass Shabbat desecrations at soccer games is the greatest public desecration in the country and attracts millions of fans who listen to the soccer broadcasts and watch televised broadcasts of games.
Deri added that an unusual opportunity had arisen to cancel Shabbat games after hundreds petitioned the court claiming that soccer is a profession and they do not want to work on Shabbat.
Deri concluded that "there is no place for haredi representatives in a government which authorizes desecration of Shabbat."