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Supermarket law buys Netanyahu's coalition more time

This week, Likud members voiced clear messages directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the supermarket law promoted by ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.
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In September 2016, the fourth Netanyahu government was facing its first coalition crisis, with the ultra-Orthodox fuming over railroad maintenance work conducted on the Sabbath. A series of polls released at the time caused grave concern to the Likud, and especially to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They showed that Netanyahu's orders to halt maintenance work on the Sabbath caused the Likud to lose precious seats, while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid was soaring at their expense. If elections had been held then, Yesh Atid would have emerged as the country's largest party.

The maintenance work caused widespread train disruptions on Sunday mornings. Images of soldiers unable to get back from their furloughs flooded the media, causing considerable unrest among the Likud base. Realizing how damaging this could be to him, Netanyahu came up with a compromise, which placated the ultra-Orthodox parties, while allowing for work on the railroads to continue on the Sabbath.

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