No one in the political system meant for it to happen, yet a new Sabbath crisis erupted in the last two weeks over maintenance and repair work on Israel Railways. At the time of this writing, the crisis had ended with an ultra-Orthodox victory as Saturday work was canceled and with the Supreme Court criticizing Netanyahu for reinstating part of the work, which he was unauthorized to do.
In the transportation chaos that disrupted the country, with train service halted until maintenance work is finished, the voice of Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid was resoundingly silent. Until recently, Lapid had been the representative of the secular community, but this time left the secular public without an effective leader to fight for them.