Israel - Daylight saving time won’t be extended
The Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that summer
time will once again end before Yom Kippur, on September 23, despite Interior
Minister Eli Yishai’s decision last year to extend daylight savings time into
October.
According to the ministry, the legislation has not yet
been approved, which means that there will not be enough time to bring the bill
into effect this year.
A Knesset committee comprised of government personnel,
academics and industrialists, tasked with reviewing Israel’s relatively short
period of DST, recommended last May that it should be increased from the
current level of 185 days to 193 days.
Since 2005, DST has ended before Yom Kippur so that the
fast finishes earlier in the day. DST will therefore end again this year on
September 23, three days before the fast.
When the new legislation is finally passed, it will mean
that, on average, 50 percent of the time Yom Kippur will fall before the switch
and 50 percent of the time it will fall afterward.
Proponents of extending the summer time say that turning
the clocks back at an earlier date leads to increased road accidents and saves
the economy money due to energy savings on lighting. Most European countries
begin DST on the last Friday in March, as in Israel, but end it on the last
Sunday in October. The US summer time is even longer, beginning on the second
Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday of November.
In addition to the government bill, several other private
members bill have been proposed. MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) has submitted a
bill, supported by 20 MKs, that would extend summer time till the end of
October, but it has been delayed several times in committee.
On Monday, Horowitz blasted Eli Yishai on his Facebook
page for delaying his bill. “There is no limit to stupidity and indifference,”
he wrote.
Two years ago, more than 300,000 people signed an online
petition calling on the government to extend DST.
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