Uri Maklev
Uri MaklevHillel Meir/ TPS

The Ramat Gan city council on Tuesday evening decide to offer Shabbat (Sabbath, celebrated on Saturday) busing to entertainment centers, after a previous council meeting had ended inconclusively.

MK Ofir Sofer (United Right) tweeted: "I have a lot of love for the city of Ramat Gan. As a paratrooper, I remember the city as being very connecting, it's the paratroopers' adopted hometown. And I ask, where on earth are you taking this, [mayor] Carmel Shama? And for what - the love of the media? What about the love of your residents?"

MK Uri Maklev (UTJ) also criticized the move, saying, "Throughout the years, Ramat Gan has known how to respect every part of the community. Every mayor throughout history has respected sensitivity to religion. Harming the Sabbath is a double injury. The very fact that the decision was made is a breach of a boundary, the likes of which have not been seen in the city since its founding."

"With this decision, the mayor, who claims he respects traditions, has sold his Jewish values in exchange for advancing interests which he sees as offering him political and electoral gain. Experience has shown that harming the holy Shabbat does not bring any gain. Willfully harming the holy Shabbat does not succeed, and we protest it.

"This decision of the mayor's joins his recent harsh statements against the haredi community. If this decision is only in order to make the city seem more secular, in order to prevent haredi residents from coming to the city, then the community will come en masse. The mayor is not the owner, his hurtful statements will not prevent the haredi community from coming en masse to the city. Strengthening and establishing the haredi and religious communities in this city is the correct response to this evening's decision."