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Party’s demand to halt electricity on Shabbat should be backed by environmentalists, says Israeli mayor

“It’s a shame that those people who usually champion ‘green’ causes are instead fighting the haredim on this one.”

By World Israel News Staff

United Torah Judaism’s leaked demands for joining Israel’s incoming government, including halting Israeli electricity production on Shabbat, were not only misrepresented but should be backed by environmentalists, Lod Mayor Yair Revivo suggested Tuesday during a Knesset plenum.

Orthodox Jews do not use electricity on the sabbath, and UTJ wants the government to enforce restrictions on electricity production on Shabbat.

Revivo defended UTJ’s policy, saying that Lod plans to build an energy-storage unit.

“I’ll give you the scoop: There isn’t enough electricity in the country, especially on the Sabbath and religious holidays. It’s a shame that those people who usually champion ‘green’ causes are instead fighting the haredim [ultra-Orthodox] on this one,” said Revivo, who wears a kippa but is not from the haredi sector.

The Lod municipality recently published a tender for the construction of an energy-storage facility in a haredi-majority neighborhood, he said, according to Arutz-7.

The unit, designed to prevent the electric grid from getting overloaded and triggering power outages, would benefit haredim as well as secular residents, he added.

The electricity demand and other UTJ requirements revealed on Monday, including more gender-segregated beaches, triggered outrage.

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Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, speaking at the Knesset, told Likud members: “Is this what you voted for… that with your vote the most extreme government in the country’s history will be established?”

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu disagreed, telling the Knesset: “I want to reassure you: there is and will be electricity on the sabbath. There will be beaches for everyone. We will maintain the status quo.”