JERUSALEM — The forecast for Israel on Sunday: balmy late-summer temperatures, uncomfortable humidity along the Mediterranean coast and … darkness at 6 p.m.
Israel moved its clocks back by an hour overnight, putting the country on its winter clock more than a month ahead of Europe and the U.S. and adding to the anger that many mainstream Israelis feel toward an ultra-Orthodox minority.
Many Israelis think the time change, meant to make it easier to fast on the upcoming Yom Kippur holy day, unnecessarily disrupts life and costs the economy millions of dollars. They say the early onset of darkness raises electricity costs, causes more car accidents and gives children less time to play after school.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s just a power play by the ultra-Orthodox to show who’s in charge. There is no reason for it being this early,” said Raanan Lidji, 34, a high-tech worker from Tel Aviv.
The move to winter time ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and holiest date on the Jewish calendar, has been enshrined in law since 2005. The Associated Press
