Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz
Transportation Minister Yisrael KatzFlash 90

According to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not surprised by the extent of the railway work needed and actually approved it himself.

In an interview with Channel 2 on Sunday, Katz added that the haredim had agreed for political reasons to allow the work to go on and only due to pressure from the haredi public they decided to take a negative stance and threaten to leave the coalition.

Katz explained that the issue was a national issue and not a political one. "It involved changing infrastructure in the Greater Tel Aviv region and the next stage needed to be implemented. The police said that this had to be done at the end of the week and not during the week. When I received this information I implemented it."

Katz said he had been under pressure from the haredi parties to revoke the decision. He replied that this was a police recommendation and that if the decision had been revoked and would have cost lives, they would have said that lives were lost for political considerations.

In his words he emphasized that every Shabbat, infrastructure work takes place around the country involving the electricity and water companies as well as the Ministry of Energy.

Katz did not feel that the crisis had changed his relations with Netanyahu. He denied reports that he had been threatened with dismissal and stressed his continued dedication to the Likud.