By Mark Baber
September 10 – The Israel Football Association (IFA) announced on Wednesday that “all professional league and youth league games will take place as planned this weekend,” after Israel’s Attorney-General issued a ruling that the 1951 law mandating permission from the Ministry of Economy in order to work on the Sabbath need not be applied.
A ban on playing on Saturdays had been imposed by Labour Court judge Ariella Glitzer last week after hundreds of players said they did not wish to play on the Sabbath. The judge insisted it was illegal to play on Saturdays unless permission was granted by Economy Minister Aryeh Deri, from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. The IFA reacted by cancelling all this coming weekend’s matches and stated that all soccer in Israel would stop until the decision was overturned.
Following a request from the Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has now intervened to resolve the dispute, writing “I do not find a reason, at this time, to order a change to the policy of non-enforcement in all that relates to holding soccer matches on Shabbat, as has been the custom for decades.”
The decision has put the players who decided to sign the petition in an awkward position, having to wrestle with their conscience over whether to continue to play on the Sabbath. Regev has said a committee will be set up to seek a solution to accommodate these players. However, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke for many Israelis when he told Army Radio on Wednesday that “I think that the custom for the (secular) public in Israel is that on Saturday you go to synagogue and afterward you go to the soccer stadium. This is the status quo.”
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