Israeli Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni lashed out against the decision to send condolences to Poland immediately following the plane tragedy, rather than waiting for Shabbos to end.
“There was no need to hastily issue a message of condolences in a way that disparages Israel, since it was sent in the middle of Shabbos,” he said. “The Jewish people take all necessary measures on Shabbos in cases of imminent danger, but must uphold it when there is no such exigency, as in this case. The heads of state scorned and desecrated Shabbos unnecessarily.”
Russian state television reported the Tu-154 jet crashed in heavy fog shortly before 11:00 a.m. on Shabbos. President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of Polish officials were killed in the accident.
Gafni said “the world would have understood that a Jewish state issues condolences only after Shabbos ends. It was a [further] tragedy to act in this manner.”
{J Dispatch/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
The Zionist entity holds that Chillul Shabbos is a chiyuv per Herzl ym’s,
In this matter I think MK Gafni is correct.
Since Israel is acting to the world as a Jewish
state; it wouldn’t hurt till after shabbos
to make the statement about the Polish tragedy.
I’m sure the Polish people would respect us just as much allowing for the time differance.
One can be Jewish and secular,no?
Israel is a secular state. Most Jews are secular.