Coalition Chairman David Amsalem has told the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee that expects to present three reservations to a bill intended to give the interior minister the last word in approval of business openings on the Jewish Sabbath.
As part of Amsalem's reservations, the law will be in effect for five years. It will not apply to the Eilat Free Trade Zone convenience stores at gas stations that will operate on Saturdays and holidays. Yesterday, at a meeting of the leaders of the coalition parties, these reservations were presented to the heads of the haredi-religious parties who expressed their opposition to them. After the bill clears the committee, it will encounter more than a 1,000 objections filed by the opposition.