Interior Minister Eli Yishai wants to pass a law revoking the business licenses of establishments that employ Jews on the Sabbath, but the move is vigorously opposed by the Finance Ministry and by senior figures in the business sector, as well as voices of the “man on the street” quoted by media.
Businesses are already forbidden by the existing Hours of Work and Rest Law from employing Jews on Sabbaths, yet the law is enforced laxly by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which is headed by Labor's Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. The new bill, which is currently being debated by the Knesset's Interior Committee, would prevent businesses from being licensed by the local municipality if they do not commit to uphold the Hours of Work and Rest Law.
The Finance Ministry and senior members of the business community have voiced opposition to the bill, which they claim would hurt businesses. The Head of the Federation of Commerce Bureaus, Attorney Uriel Lin, wrote Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz that “the proposal would turn Israel from a country that respects religion to a religious country.”
Aides to the minister released a statement in which they asked whether it is proper for the government to selectively enforce its own laws. Workers are legally entitled to rest from the week’s work on Sabbath, and to abstain from enforcing the law is to ignore their basic rights, they said.