The Cabinet on Sunday approved a measure to extend Daylight Savings Time until the end of October. It also approved exporting 40 percent of natural gas, and the two decisions prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to remark, “Now we have a land flowing with milk and honey, gas and sunlight.”
The latest change concerning when Israel moves its clocks backwards puts an end to a long-time argument that has pitted Haredi and many national religious rabbis against the secular community.
Many rabbis have objected to extending “summer time” beyond the day before Yom Kippur because it would mean the 25-hour fast, although starting later in the evening, also would end around 7 p.m. after a hot day and may cause people to ignore the commandment to fast.
The Knesset last year approved changing the law and extending “summer time” until the end of September, Yom Kippur often falls in October, but the new proposed change would eliminate that possibility.
The government is expected to bring the bill to the Knesset for preliminary and final passage in time for it to take effect this year.