"On the day of a disaster, it will be too late": In a year, there will be no room to bury in Israel's cemeteries
Burial societies have petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Minister of Religious Services, demanding approval of an order to update the prices for purchasing burial plots in advance. They argue that the delay is paralyzing cemetery development projects worth hundreds of millions of shekels and endangering the state's ability to handle a mass casualty event. According to the petition, the available grave inventory in the petitioners' cemeteries is expected to be exhausted within one to four years, while planning and constructing a multi-story burial facility takes about six years. In Tel Aviv and Haifa, projects for about 40,000 burial spaces have been frozen, and additional projects in Jerusalem are at risk of being halted. The draft order seeks to raise prices, for example in Tel Aviv from about 19,000 shekels to about 34,900 shekels. The burial societies emphasize that the update does not change eligibility for free burial. The petition was filed after the deputy attorneys general instructed not to advance the order during the election period.
Burial societies have petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Minister of Religious Services, demanding approval of an order to update the prices for purchasing burial plots in advance. They argue that the delay in approval is paralyzing cemetery development projects worth hundreds of millions of shekels and endangering the state's ability to handle a mass casualty event. According to data in the petition, the available grave inventory in the petitioners' cemeteries is expected to be exhausted within one to four years, while planning and constructing a multi-story burial facility takes about six years. In Tel Aviv and Haifa, projects for about 40,000 burial spaces have been frozen, and additional projects in Jerusalem are at risk of being halted. The draft order seeks to raise prices, for example in Tel Aviv from about 19,000 shekels to about 34,900 shekels. The burial societies emphasize that the update does not change eligibility for free burial. The petition was filed after the deputy attorneys general instructed not to advance the order during the election period.