Israel’s Daylight Savings Time (DST) will go into effect early tomorrow morning, March 29th, when Israelis will move their clocks forward from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
DST will end later than usual this year, on October 6, some three weeks after Yom Kippur, in accordance with legislation passed by the previous Knesset.
The new law states that DST, known in Israel as “Summer Time,” will be extended to 193 days a year, starting from the Friday before the last Sunday in March (at 2 am) and ending on the first Sunday after the 1st of October (at 2 am).
The legislation was passed following a wave of public criticism and calls to extend DST beyond October 1. The public campaign included a petition signed by some 400,000 Israelis. The petition said the current arrangement forces “millions of Israeli workers” to return home in the dark and to rise in the morning “after the sun has heated our already warm country.”
The petition stated that ending DST earlier reduces the “quality time” that parents can spend with their children, increases the risk of traffic accidents as a result of more driving taking place after sunset, puts Israel out of sync with other countries and costs the economy hundreds of millions of shekels, in part due to increased energy expenses.
Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) resubmitted his bill from the previous Knesset to lengthen DST until the beginning of November.
“The Israeli public deserves an additional month of daylight, a month that would lower the number of accidents and will give people an additional hour of light during the day’s most important time,” he said.
The charedi factions are expected to oppose the proposal, but newly-appointed Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he plans to review Horowitz’s proposal.
{Ynet News/Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
Isn’t that the famous clock that was in the “back to the future” trilogy?