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Why Sabbath crisis didn't topple Netanyahu's government

The ultra-Orthodox party’s manufactured crisis over train repair work being conducted on the Sabbath came with a built-in expiration date.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, 17 July 2016. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool - RTSICNN
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Twice in Israel’s political history, ultra-Orthodox parties have led to governments falling and early elections because of violations of the Sabbath. The first time was in 1976, during Yitzhak Rabin’s first government, when three F-15 planes that had arrived from the United States landed in Israel close to the beginning of Shabbat, which starts at sunset, and the national-religious Mafdal created a coalition crisis that led to Rabin’s resignation. The second time was in 1999, when the electric company’s six superheaters were transferred overnight on a Friday night, already the Sabbath by Jewish laws, resulting in the ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah leaving Ehud Barak’s government, hastening its collapse.

Days ago, it seemed for a minute that a crisis during the Sabbath involving train repairs, carried out with the authorization of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz despite the opposition of the ultra-Orthodox, could result in the downfall of a government for the third time for “violation of the Sabbath.” While the drama mainly took place in the media and in public — where anonymous sources from the ultra-Orthodox parties demanded Katz's resignation — behind the scenes it was clear to all the players that dismantling the government was not an option.

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