Independence Day will be celebrated on a Thursday each year, according to a bill
the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved for government support on
Sunday.
The ministers unanimously voted in favor of the bill proposed by
MK Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beytenu), under which Independence Day would fall on the
Thursday of the week in which the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar
falls.
According to Shemtov, the state’s founders did not realize that
Independence Day falls on Fridays and Saturdays in many years. When that
happens, it is celebrated on the preceding Thursday, under a rule that has been
followed since 1951.
The MK explained that her bill would not cost the
state anything, and would make it easier for employers and municipalities to
prepare for the holiday.
Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov (Yisrael
Beytenu), who is the chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Ceremonies and
Symbols, said that the bill “will prevent special vacation days in the middle of
the week, which are disruptive to the Israeli market.”
Meseznikov added
that the legislation would make it easier for bereaved families to prepare for
Remembrance Day, which would now always fall on a Wednesday, and prevent people
from desecrating Shabbat, as the holidays would not take place during the
weekend.
Shemtov’s bill is likely to be brought to the Knesset for a
preliminary reading on Wednesday. It would then have to pass three more votes in
the plenum, as well as committee discussions, before becoming law.