The anti-religious forces are picking another fight with the
religious community over moving a 250-ton turbine
manufactured in Israel by the Israel Military Industry plant
in Ramat Hasharon to the Israel Electric Company installation
in Ashkelon.
Two weeks ago, religious activists, including UTJ MK Rabbi
Moshe Gafni, learned from press reports that the complicated
move was scheduled for Shabbos. The huge turbine must be
moved some 50 kilometers from the place it was manufactured
to the place it will be used.
The move, which cannot proceed faster than five kilometers
per hour (3 miles per hour) is expected to take 12-14 hours.
The large load will block all lanes to vehicular traffic, and
even require that some installations on the roadsides, such
as signs, traffic lights, and other barriers, be dismantled
to allow the passage and reassembled after it passes. The
police originally maintained that such a move during a
workday or even at night would cause havoc on the roads. It
could not be completed in a single night, and would have to
be spread out over 3 to 4 nights, requiring that arrangements
be made to store the huge object during the day -- not a
simple task. In fact, no potential interim storage areas were
immediately located.
As a result police scheduled the move, which will require
scores of police and other maintenance workers, for Friday
night and Shabbos.
Following intervention from chareidi MKs and Shas ministers,
the planned Friday night move was postponed.
Anti-religious activists were enraged at what they called
"giving in to religious demands," and they insisted that the
move take place on Shabbos. One said, "We will see who is in
charge of this government: if the move takes place on
Shabbos, then Meretz is in charge; if during the week then
Shas is in charge."
Now MK Yosef Paritzky of the militant anti-religious Shinui
Party, has led a petition to the High Court seeking a ruling
that the controversial electric company turbine be moved only
on Shabbos.
The petitioners ask the Supreme court to determine that the
need to avoid "the hardship the transfer of the turbine
during the week will cause drivers, as well as the public's
right to freedom of transportation on inter-city roads, takes
precedence over the possible affront to the sensitivities of
the religious community liable to be caused by the transfer
of parts of the turbine on Shabbos."
The MK added the road between Ramat Hasharon and Ashkelon was
among the most heavily traveled in the country and to even
think of shutting it for over 12 hours during the week was
unacceptable. In addition, he explained that blocking the
planned move on Shabbos represented religious coercion.
The petitioners claim that a police investigation indicated
that it is impossible to transfer the turbine during one
weekday night.
The petitioners have also asked the court to issue an interim
order preventing the transfer of the turbine from Ramat
Hasharon to Ashkelon during the week, until a court decision
is reached.
The petitioners contrast the Bar Ilan Road affair to the plan
to transfer the turbine on weekdays. They claim that "the
reason the Supreme Court sanctioned the closing of the Bar
Ilan Road during prayer times was in order to enable
observant Jews to use that road in order to reach their
synagogues. It is also a municipal road, and there are
alternate ones for those who ride on Shabbos. However all
this doesn't apply to the case of the turbine. This time, the
road in question is an inter-city one, and a main
transportation artery in Israel. By the same token, no
religious Jews use this road in order to reach their
synagogues."
Religious politicians were preparing for the struggle, but
some wondered if perhaps other ways could be found to
generate publicity for anti-religious politicians besides
trampling Shabbos.
