Tel Aviv Court Drops Petition Against Ramat Hasharon, Big Glilot Will Stay Open on Saturday

The Tel Aviv District Court ordered the petition filed by the Hapoel Hamizrachi labor federation and a Ramat Hasharon business owner to be removed, ending their bid to force the city to enforce its municipal bylaw against stores operating on Saturday at the Big Glilot complex. The practical result is that the shopping center will remain open on Saturdays.

In his ruling, the judge said the petition had succeeded in the sense that the municipality and the mayor made clear that the law should be enforced, and had even formulated an enforcement policy. “In these circumstances it is clear that the petition, in its substantive part, has exhausted itself, and there is no dispute that the law must be enforced,” he wrote.

The petitioners argued that the existing bylaw, enacted in 1968, prohibits businesses from opening on Shabbat and that the city is obligated to enforce it. The municipality responded that the old legislation is no longer relevant to current times.