Israel Law Enacted 2018-01-09

Shabbat "Minimarket Law" (Amendment to the Business Licensing Law)

قانون "السوبرماركت"/تعديل قانون ترخيص الأعمال (إغلاق المتاجر يوم السبت)

Summary

Amendment to the Business Licensing Law passed 58–57 on 9 January 2018 after a ~15-hour opposition filibuster, granting the interior minister authority to review and reject municipal bylaws that allow shops to open on Shabbat. The portfolio was held by Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who championed the measure; ultra-Orthodox pressure (including UTJ minister Yaakov Litzman's resignation over Shabbat railway works) drove the coalition to back it.

Impact

Religion-and-state / civil-liberties conduct: the law lets a Haredi-controlled ministry impose Shabbat closure over the wishes of secular-majority municipalities, deepening the religious-status-quo dispute. A signature governing act of Shas in office.

Parties involved

Shas

Sources

Permalink https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/e2e0434f-85e1-4d2c-a242-092cef9a46c2

How to cite

This is a citation for the legislation itself — credited to Knesset and dated to its 2018 introduction. Tayyar is the retrieval surface, not the author. A separate "Retrieved via" line records that you accessed it through this dataset.

In-text: (Knesset, 2018)

APA 7Institutional author

Knesset. (2018). Shabbat "Minimarket Law" (Amendment to the Business Licensing Law) [Legislation]. https://www.jta.org/2018/01/09/israel/israeli-knesset-passes-law-that-will-keep-supermarkets-businesses-closed-on-shabbat. Retrieved via Tayyar (https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/e2e0434f-85e1-4d2c-a242-092cef9a46c2) on July 27, 2026.

Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals

Knesset. 2018. “Shabbat "Minimarket Law" (Amendment to the Business Licensing Law).” Legislation. https://www.jta.org/2018/01/09/israel/israeli-knesset-passes-law-that-will-keep-supermarkets-businesses-closed-on-shabbat. Retrieved via Tayyar, July 27, 2026.

BibTeXLaTeX / Zotero / reference managers

@misc{tayyar-bill-e2e0434f-85e1-4d2c-a242-092cef9a46c2,
  title     = {{Shabbat "Minimarket Law" (Amendment to the Business Licensing Law)}},
  author    = {{Knesset}},
  year      = {2018},
  date      = {2018-01-09},
  type      = {Legislation},
  url       = {https://www.jta.org/2018/01/09/israel/israeli-knesset-passes-law-that-will-keep-supermarkets-businesses-closed-on-shabbat},
  urldate   = {2026-07-27},
  note      = {Retrieved via Tayyar (https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/e2e0434f-85e1-4d2c-a242-092cef9a46c2) on July 27, 2026}
}