and the public chilul shabbos in Israel continues to increase.
Now Modiin, led by a Likud mayor, has begun operating a Shabbos bus to the beach, as has Kfar Saba and some other locales. Tel Aviv has announced they will begin operation on Shabbos of a tourist bus running through the city. Ramat Gan, via its mayor Carmel Shama Cohen (also of the Likud) is beginning operation of buses on Shabbos, and it has become a fight with Bnei Braq in general.
All this is added to many other locations and instances around the country (some reported here, some not) that have been increasing public chilul shabbos over the past couple of years.
A. This is a tremendous failure of the Haredi parties that have tried, perhaps only superficially, to fight this. Some might say it is specifically increasing because they are fighting it. Perhaps it is time to either step up the fight or tone it down if there is no intention to make it real.
B. It continues to amaze me that with the Haredi parties talking regularly about how Shabbos observance in the public sphere is of utmost importance to them and is the main issue of their involvement in government, they continue to support Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister, despite the fact that it is under Netanyahu's leadership that the public chilul shabbos has so dramatically increased in recent years. At what point will they tell him no more. And since they have not, why not?
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