A blow to the Tel Aviv Municipality: Tel Aviv District Court Judge Meir Yifrach ruled that the Tel Aviv Municipality acted illegally and must take action to close stores on Saturday using all means at its disposal.
The legal saga began with a petition filed against the municipality by small store owners, who demanded that the municipality order the closure of businesses on Shabbat, on the grounds that operating them harms their livelihoods, and even harms the rest of the employees who are forced to work at the request of their employers.
The petition reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the municipality was required to comply with the Sabbath Law. Despite the ruling, the Tel Aviv Municipality circumvented the court's decision by enacting new regulations, and businesses resumed operations on the Sabbath. For example, the municipality distinguished, among other things, between new businesses that violate Shabbat and established businesses, with the established businesses receiving relief in enforcing the law for opening on Shabbat.
Following the new constellation and the legal detour, Sabbath-observing business owners petitioned the court through attorneys David Shove and Evri Feingold, against the municipality's decision.
The court accepted the petition and expressed itself sharply against the municipality: "The conclusion in this context is that the hierarchy of priorities established by the municipality, with regard to prioritizing enforcement actions against a new business... as opposed to an old business... is a flawed hierarchy, plagued by extreme unreasonableness. Its place will not be recognized within the framework of considerations taken into account by the person in charge of law enforcement.".
The municipality's action is tainted with extreme unreasonableness.
The judge further wrote: "The enforcement rules are also tainted with extreme unreasonableness, which exceeds in severity the one discussed above. This is because the municipality saw fit to enforce the bylaw only on new businesses; on the other hand, old businesses were granted complete immunity. Enforcement rules of this kind are not consistent with adhering to the basic rule that the law applies equally to everyone. It seems that even the veiled eyes of the goddess of justice will be able to discern the heavy shadows that arise from these rules.".
The judge also referred to the fact that the municipality did not bother to enforce the rules it itself had set in the new policy. For example, Ifrach writes cynically: "A sad reflection naturally arises regarding the municipality's way of operating: the right hand establishes an enforcement policy and the left hand bothers not to implement this (new) policy. Needless to say, such a course of action is completely unacceptable and raises concerns that the policy document is intended to turn a blind eye and not to be implemented in practice.".
""The municipality's action," the judge concludes, "is tainted with extreme unreasonableness, which not only gives the court the authority to intervene, but also obliges it not to sit idly by to prevent a state of affairs in which all the observers in the world are fools.".
The ruling determined that the new enforcement rules set by the municipality are invalid. Second, there will be no difference in enforcement between new businesses and old businesses, and third, the municipality must act to implement the policy in practice.".
In addition, legal costs were awarded in favor of the petitioners in the amount of 60,000 NIS.
In conversation with Haredim10 Lawyer David Shove says: "For many years, the Tel Aviv Municipality collaborated with criminal networks and systematically and deliberately avoided enforcing the rest laws, while severely harming container owners who sought to exercise their right to a weekly rest day. Several months ago, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that sharply criticized the Tel Aviv Municipality's enforcement failures, but not only did the municipality not comply with the ruling, but it stopped enforcing the law altogether.".
The lawyer added: "For our pleasure, the court did not agree to accept this shameful policy that undermines the rule of law and ordered the municipality to enforce the law immediately. We hope that the municipality will stop being clever, understand its role and restore sanity and fairness to commercial life in Tel Aviv.""
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