Israeli law has long enshrined Shabbat as a national day of rest, restricting commercial activity, public transportation, and the like on the holy day. Now the Knesset is considering a bill—sponsored by Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party—that will tighten some of these laws. Shuki Friedman argues against the legislation, popularly known as the “supermarket bill,” even though he does not see it as having a significant effect on religious freedom.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri’s “supermarket bill” is a bluff. Considering the fact that hundreds of thousands of Jews work on Shabbat—many of them illegally—even if the law passes, it won’t make any difference. It will just be another law that won’t be enforced, and commerce and financial activity on Shabbat will keep blooming.

If Deri and the ultra-Orthodox Knesset members really wanted to change this situation, they would finally sit down with the rest of the coalition members, and with opposition members too, and reach a historic compromise with moral validity, . . . which would regularize Shabbat’s nature in the state of Israel. Aggressive coercion [in the form] of another hopeless law will achieve the exact opposite. . . .

The legal status quo with regard to the Sabbath has been maintained for many years. . . . In recent years, however, there has been an ongoing growth in the volume of commercial activity on Shabbat. More supermarkets, shopping malls, and stores have been opening on Shabbat. . . . The result is that for many Jewish workers—about 400,000—Shabbat in Israel is not a day of rest. . . .

The nonenforcement of Shabbat laws is ridiculous both on the national level and on the local level. In 2016, for example, the Labor and Welfare Ministry issued only eleven fines for illegal work on Shabbat. The enforcement isn’t any more significant on the local level, and most authorities simply don’t want to enforce their Shabbat bylaws. Even Deri . . . didn’t lift a finger to increase enforcement when he was authorized to do so when serving as minister of economy. So even if the “supermarkets bill” is passed into law, authorities that decide not to enforce the law will allow the situation to remain as it is today.

In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump put forth ambitious goals for his first days in office. An additional item that should be on the agenda of his administration, and also that of the 119th Congress, should be defunding, and ideally dismantling, UNRWA. The UN Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees—to give its full name—is deeply enmeshed with Hamas in Gaza, has inculcated generations of young Palestinians with anti-Semitism, and exists primarily to perpetuate the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Robert Satloff explains what must be done.

[T]here is an inherent contradiction in support for UNRWA (given its anti-resettlement posture) and support for a two-state solution (or any negotiated resolution) to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Providing relief to millions of Palestinians based on the argument that their legitimate, rightful home lies inside Israel is deeply counterproductive to the search for peace.

Last October, the Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass two laws that will come into effect January 30: a ban on UNRWA operations in Israeli sovereign territory and the severing of all Israeli ties with the agency. This includes cancellation of a post-1967 agreement that allowed UNRWA to operate freely in what was then newly occupied territory.

A more ambitious U.S. approach could score a win-win achievement that advances American interests in Middle East peace while saving millions of taxpayer dollars. Namely, Washington could take advantage of Israel’s new laws to create an alternative support mechanism that eases UNRWA out of Gaza. This would entail raising the stakes with other specialized UN agencies operating in the area. Instead of politely asking them if they can assume UNRWA’s job in Gaza, the Trump administration should put them on notice that continued U.S. funding of their own global operations is contingent on their taking over those tasks. Only such a dramatic step is likely to produce results.