Uri Keidar, director of the "Israel Hofsheet" (Free Israel) movement, has attacked the partial weekend closures that remain in force this week, due to opposition from several ministers to canceling them.
"The decision to ignore professional opinions from the Health Ministry and leave stores and malls shut this Shabbat will strike any intelligent person as religiously based rather than health based," he accused. "Seeing that there is a majority in the government for allowing stores to open, it makes no sense to postpone the discussion on the matter until the following week.
"Citizens were promised that new restrictions would not be imposed on them unless they serve the clear purpose of fighting this epidemic," he added. "This decision to leave stores and malls closed certainly does not serve any public health purpose - it is simply religious coercion," he asserted.