Barkat: I’m Preserving The Status Quo

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Following accusations that dozens of new pubs and restaurants opened in Yerushalayim’s city center since Nir Barkat became mayor eight years ago, a meeting was held between him and Aryeh Deri, Yaakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni. Both sides agreed to set up a committee to examine the city’s Shabbos status quo within thirty days and signed a declaration that “Yerushalayim’s status quo in regard to Shabbos will be scrupulously preserved.”

During the meeting, Barkat stated that he was not interested in starting up with Shabbos and said that he disagreed with an assessment that dozens of businesses opened during his candidacy. To prove this, he produced a presentation which showed that all the pubs and restaurants in the city center except two were open before he became mayor. Barkat noted that he has fought to close certain supermarkets and grocers that opened against the law even though this put his popularity among the secular public at risk.

Meanwhile, even though a huge sports center has been authorized to be constructed below Yerushalayim’s Romema neighborhood, chareidi councilmen are trying to delay it with all sorts of technicalities. Their latest tactic was to prevent the authorization of a ten foot high electricity room needed for the center by arguing that this would require a 25 foot deep excavation in the hill that would spoil the view from a neighborhood on a hill nearby.

In this particular battle, the secular Meretz party joined the chareidim and condemned the plan due to environmental considerations.

{Matzav.com Israel News}


2 COMMENTS

  1. Put the stadium on the far south side of Jerusalem, far from the religious areas.
    ,like near the zoo which is unfortunately open on Shabbas.

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