Protesters gathered on Thursday as Tel Aviv’s long-awaited Light Rail opened with a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Energy Minister Israel Katz, who has previously served in the role as transportation minister.
Netanyahu spoke in a hopeful tone at the event, saying that “Those who support us and those who oppose us – everyone will use this train. This is a holiday for Israel. Today we are fulfilling Israel’s transportation vision – we promised and we are delivering. We promised to connect the cities and within the cities and between the countries – and we are doing all three things”
The public transportation project broke ground in 2011 – though was originally proposed 50 years ago by then prime minister Golda Meir – and it was most recently promised that it would begin operating by the end of 2022. The project continued to see multiple delays – partly due to a malfunction in the brake system – which has led to Tel Avivians watching empty trains go by for months.
Public services on Shabbat
This changes, as the train begins service on Friday in its 34-stop route that goes from Bat Yam to Petah Tikva through Jaffa and Rothschild Boulevard. City planners hope the new train will ease congestion and bring convenience to the life of residents.
Protesters are demonstrating against the decision by the government to close the rail a few hours after it begins service in honor of Shabbat. The light rail will not run on the day of rest and on holidays.
This move was decried by secular activists, including Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who announced he will not be attending the event, said yesterday that “As someone who supports and promotes transportation on Shabbat, I have been saying for a long time – the light rail must operate and serve the public even on Shabbat.
“That’s how it should be in a liberal and democratic country.”
He will, however, take part in the train’s maiden voyage.
“The opening of the light rail is a historic and important event, an event that I have waited 23 years for this to happen,” Huldai added.
One of the main reasons given for operating the Red Line, the first which is opening, is that it runs through Bnei Brak, one of the country’s most densely populated haredi (ultra-Orthodox) communities. Given the makeup of the government, it was next to impossible this would pass.
Police set up roadblocks around the city in anticipation of the prime minister’s arrival to the White City, the place in which more than 100,000 of its residents have been protesting his government since its formation at the beginning of the year.
Anti judicial reform activists protest against the judicial overhaul and and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening ceremony of the light rail, in Petah Tikva, August 17, 2023 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)The Kaplan Force, one of the main drivers of the protest movement, announced last week it would be protesting the opening, even threatening to sit in on train routes to prevent its passage. They sent a note to Police Chief Kobi Shabtai asking that he stop the “paralysis in Tel Aviv in a cage for the dictator’s light rail journey.
“The police put citizens under siege and paralyze an entire city so that the dictator does not encounter the protesters. This is what a dictatorship looks like.”
The rail’s remaining lines will open over the next few years.
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