All the relevant players, the PM, the Minister of Work and Welfare, and the Committee For Shabbos Work Allowances, all approved and signed off on general permits for the football (aka soccer) leagues to continue playing the sport on Shabbos.
The Haredi news media (sites and radio) are all abuzz about this, with accusations that the Haredi parties having closed their eyes to this chilul shabbos and have basically allowed it.
Personally I see nothing wrong with them choosing to ignore this. They know the limits to their powers and that putting an end to the sport on Shabbos would be major and there would be serious blowback. The time is not ripe for this. You cannot do everything at one time. They are fighting too many fronts and this can wait until later.
I would like to see the sport move its activities to a weekday, so religious people (athletes and fans and various workers) can participate and so fans are not compelled to chilul shabbos just to follow their favorite teams, but I guess the time for this is not now.
There is also the issue of the status quo. The Haredi parties cant go fighting everything with claims of the status quo and then change the secular part of society breaching their side of the status quo.
כ׊×� ׊מקבלי×� ׊כר ×˘×œ הדרי׊ה, כך מקבלי×� ׊כר ×˘×œ הפרי׊ה
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