Israel’s National Conflict Plays Out in Clash Over a Sabbath Bus Service
Mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen’s desk is strewn with evidence of the threats against his life over his campaign to introduce public bus service on the Sabbath—an effort that put him on one side of a broader dispute that some call a battle for the soul of Israel.
Service begins next weekend between this leafy suburban city of 156,000 and the beach in Tel Aviv, after the Ramat Gan city council approved the plan on Tuesday, despite opposition from Israelis who say service on Friday evening and Saturday flouts the Bible-ordained day of rest.
The dispute was the latest in a national conflict over the Sabbath that has upended Israeli politics. It pits the most religiously conservative Jews against the secular as well as those who are strongly faithful but less observant, a segment known in Israel as traditional Jews.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to form a government collapsed in May over...
Dr. Alan Cairns | 4/13/2009
