Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli: We will operate the light rail in Tel Aviv on Shabat

Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli (Labor) announced her decision to operate the light rail in Tel Aviv and the surrounding area also on Saturdays starting next year. After asking the Transportation Authority to convey the implications of operating the relevant lines on the weekends, Michaeli announced this evening (Saturday) that the new means of transportation that is expected to open in the coming years in Gush Dan will work all days of the week.
"Public transportation on Shabbat is something that is in my coalition agreement with Yair Lapid, and it is in the work I did in the Ministry of Transportation all year and in faction meetings every week," said Michaeli, who admitted that the decision was not made until now because of the attempt to maintain the coalition. However, in the government formation agreement signed between Lapid and Bennett - the clause does not appear, but is only found in the agreement between Yesh Atid and the Labor Party. Benta said that they are a government company that operates in accordance with the government's decisions.
My decision as the Minister of Transportation. Until today I wanted to keep the coalition, now there is no coalition to keep it. There is a civic duty to the Israeli public," the minister added. "No government will now take back any decision regarding public transportation on Shabbat, because it hurts the weakest and weakest in the State of Israel."
Michaeli claimed that staff work has been done so far both in her office and in the Ministry of Justice, and emphasized that the move does not require approval from the Knesset or the government. "This is a decision of the Minister of Transportation, and the next Minister of Transportation will not reverse it because the train has already left the station, and because it is the right thing to do.
The decision is not possible and will probably not be carried out because the chance that Michaeli will remain in the Ministry of Transport after the elections is not great.
Member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich attacked Michaeli for the announcement and said that "instead of dealing with the transportation catastrophe that all Israeli citizens suffer from, Rabbi Michaeli prefers to spread empty slogans. In the right-wing government that we will establish with God's help, we will make sure to cancel any decision that harms the Jewish character of the country and preserve the Sabbath and its sanctity today the national holiday".
Knesset member Uri Maklev from Torah Judaism, former deputy minister of transportation, also added: "It would have been better if she answered first about her failures in the management of her office, drivers spending many hours in huge traffic jams, and the dysfunction in public transportation, the damage to the periphery and price increases throughout the country, the delays in works in all areas Ministry. When the train delays its opening from the planned date, which will result in huge financial losses to the state coffers, the Minister of Transportation chooses to ship on a holy Sabbath."
On the other hand, the "Free Israel" movement welcomed Michaeli's announcement and said that "Sarah Michaeli and the other decision-makers have no reason to wait - the operation of the train on Shabbat should be immediate, and there is no point in waiting even one moment. The light rail, or any transportation project in the future is subject to a tender , must work on Shabbat from her first day and not a minute later. It makes the most sense in the world."