The BIG Group has announced it intends to close its nationwide Israeli chain of BIG shopping centers this Tuesday if the Knesset approves a judicial reform bill to eliminate the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down a law based on whether the judges consider it to be “reasonable.”
The amendment would block the courts from applying the so-called “Reasonableness Standard” when ruling on decisions made by elected officials.
The BIG chain owners have thrown their lot in with anti-government anarchists who have spent the past six months using the coalition’s planned judicial reform as a red herring with which to attempt its overthrow of the government after having lost the election last November.
“In order to protest … and prevent the passing of the legislation, we will participate in the shutdown day planned for Tuesday,” the BIG group said in a statement.
Stores who comprise the shopping centers were clearly not consulted before BIG decided on their behalf to join the latest attempted shutdown of the country, planned for Tuesday — and they have announced they are keeping their doors open.
One of the biggest chains is Rami Levy Shikma national supermarkets, which reassured its customers that its stores will, in fact, be open in BIG shopping centers, saying it “does not mix political opinions with business.
“We service our customers without regard to religion, ethnicity, sex or political opinion,” the chain said in its statement. “The chain is a public company that is required to operate faithfully for all our investors and customers. We’ll see you at our branches!”
Rami Levy was joined by the “Idan 2000” national toy store chain.
התחלנו ??
לאט לאט ניתן לבעלים של BIG להבין את גודל הטעות.
64 מנדטים זה לא פירורים
2.5 מיליון איש אלה לא נמלים שדורכים עליהם pic.twitter.com/Ry4AVDd7zT— •Liel(S)???• (@lielillsl) July 9, 2023
“To understand the size of the error by The BIG Group, we began little by little to [explain] the situation to the owners of the shopping center chain,” Idan 2000 said in a separate statement.
“Sixty-four [electoral] mandates are not peanuts; 2.5 million people are not ants to be stepped upon.”
The latter is a reference to the 64-seat Knesset majority enjoyed by the Likud-led governing coalition, and the 2.5 million Israelis who voted for the bloc.
In response to the revolt by store owners and an immediate drop in the price of BIG stock, anti-government protest leader Moshe Redman has called on his supporters to purchase shares in The BIG Group to help stem the bleed.
