JERUSALEM (RNS) Computer chip giant Intel has denied Israeli media reports that it will close its Jerusalem facility unless ultra-Orthodox Jews ease demands that the company shutter its facility during the Jewish Sabbath.
“This is not true, we are not threatening anything like that,” Koby Bahar, spokesman for Intel Israel, told Religion News Service on Tuesday (Nov. 17).
On Saturday, an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 fervently religious Jews rallied outside Intel’s Jerusalem factory to protest what they consider to be the company’s desecration of the Sabbath.
The demonstration against Intel was one of the many protests organized in recent months by ultra-Orthodox rabbis over Sabbath violations in the city, most of them related to the operation of a municipal parking lot.
Bahar said his company’s 24-year-old Jerusalem plant “is working in accordance with our business needs and Israeli law. When we need to work on Shabbat, then we work on Shabbat, too. We are not talking about a lot of workers, but I cannot give you exact numbers.”
Israeli blue laws stipulate that non-vital businesses and services in the Jewish sector must be shuttered from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday, but the laws are rarely enforced. Exceptions are also permitted.
The spokesman noted that small groups of ultra-Orthodox men first stood outside the Jerusalem facility two weeks ago, “but it was not an actual demonstration.”
Bahar said that Intel is now “in talks” with representatives of the ultra-Orthodox community. One option is the employment of non-Jews during the Sabbath, according to media reports.
“We hope to come to a solution, but we don’t want to talk about what kind of solution. I want to emphasize that no one is forced to work on Shabbat,” Bahar added.
By Michele Chabin
Copyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted November 17, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Intel should not allow itself to be cowed by these radical rightists. If that means leaving the country, then it should.
posted November 17, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Ultra – anyone seems too concerned about the lives of other people. I understand their position, but I think their efforts might be better directed to basic human needs, and not making people conform to their beliefs.
posted November 18, 2009 at 5:40 am
I think this is not targeting the Jews in particular. The world is being hit hard by the eroding financial markets, and with Intel as a primarily USA-based company, business in Israel is getting increasingly expensive.
posted November 18, 2009 at 2:22 pm
People that think they have the right to force others to follow their personal beliefs are really irritating. Assinine.
posted November 19, 2009 at 11:52 pm
The country actually has a religious law concerning the Shabbat.
posted November 20, 2009 at 10:55 am
Having a law and having a righteous law are separate things.
posted November 20, 2009 at 2:09 pm
confess that is a sideways retort, make sense please.
posted November 23, 2009 at 10:44 am
How is it sideways?
posted November 23, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Because you don’t make sense to me. Are you saying that Israel’s law about the Sabbath is a righteous law? What? Is that your position?