Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/ Flash 90

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman remained defiant after the haredi parties attacked him for making a provocative visit to an Ashdod mall on Shabbat in order to decry what he said was the government's creeping religious coercion

"Unfortunately, someone here is trying to create a cultural war, I really think that with all the security threats, this is the last thing the country needs," Liberman said in an interview with Army Radio.

Liberman also blamed the haredi parties for changing the status quo on religious issues. "They are the ones who brought all of this legislation challenging the status quo," he continued. "From canceling the Western Wall Compromise to the Conversion Law to the Supermarket Law, one cannot remain silent."

However, according to what is known as the "secular-religious status quo" agreement from the establishment of the state, an agreement spelling out the factors that define Israel as a Jewish state in the public arena despite its secular majority, foodstores are one of the businesses to be kept closed on the Sabbath. A creeping erosion of the Shabbat aspects of the status quo agreement - which also mandates halakhic marrriage and divorce, kosher food in the IDF and other minimal issues - began with the kibbutzim opening their shopping malls on Shabbat. Other stores began opening and now those fighting the Supermarket Law considerr the "status quo" to be keeping those stores open on Shabbat, a total reversal of the agreement's original meaning.

"We do not want a haredi state," Liberman added but reiterated that he did not intend to topple the coalition.

Liberman was referring to the Supermarket Law, which grants the Interior Minister the powers to disqualify municipal bylaws promoted by local authorities, effectively shutting down supermarkets that had been operating on the Sabbath with permission from the local authority. Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu actively opposed the law, making it extremely difficult for the law to pass.

Liberman on Saturday visited Ashdod in the wake of the closure of supermarkets in the city. Following the Knesset’s approval of the Supermarket Law, the city has stepped up its enforcement of a bylaw preventing businesses from opening on the day of rest.

"Anyone who says that the Supermarket Law has no meaning is misleading the public. The Supermarket Law, unfortunately, has far-reaching significance. We see the impact in Ashdod,” said Liberman.

Liberman's visit to the Ashdod on Shabbat enraged the haredi UTJ party, who demanded on Sunday that Prime Minister Netanyahu censure Liberman for what they called "his unprecedented actions deepening the public rift over the sanctity of the Shabbat".

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri also released a statement of his own slamming Liberman on Saturday night. "I’m fed up with Avigdor Liberman. Liberman trampled the Sabbath and has crossed every line. Even Tommy Lapid, one of the greatest haters of religion, did not dare to do such things. There are things that are beyond personal friendship," said Deri.