Shabbat
ShabbatISTOCK

Givatayim Mayor Ron Kunik said that he will not enforce laws mandating him to shutter businesses that operate on Shabbat in his city.

"Deri hurt Shabbat more than anything else," he told Channel 2. "We will not enforce the law and we have appealed this to the High Court of Justice a month and a half ago, we do not think we should give too many explanations."

"There are no people who will enforce this law because it is forbidden to work on Shabbat - so why should the inspectors work? With all due respect to the law, this should be a decision of the municipality. On this issue, the public and its local elected officials know better than any other minister, who changes every two years and comes up with a different agenda," added Kunick.

On Sunday, Minister Aryeh Deri invoked the controversial 'Supermarket Bill" in order to outlaw Shabbat commerce in a slew of cities across Israel.

The Knesset had passed the "Supermarket Bill” in January, which grants the Interior Minister the powers to disqualify municipal bylaws promoted by the local authorities, effectively enabling the minister to shut down supermarkets that had been operating on the Sabbath with permission from the local authority.

Before the law officially passed in the Knesset, the cities of Modiin, Givatayim, Herzliya, Holon, and Rishon LeZion had rushed to pass bylaws permitting Shabbat commerce in order to preempt the legislation, However, Deri ordered the cities to cease allowing business to operate on the Jewish day of rest after receiving a legal opinion determining that it was illegal.