Knesset member Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, leader of the secular rights Shinui Party, said the incident was proof that Shas ministers were not interested in the public good, but only in upholding religious law.

In a related development, fervently religious and secular demonstrators clashed during weekend protests in Jerusalem over the closure of two roads on the Sabbath. The flash point for this latest confrontation is Jerusalem's Ethiopia Street, where secular residents live adjacent to the fervently religious Mea She'arim neighborhood.

The Israeli Supreme Court last week issued an interim ruling to keep the street open on the Sabbath until it rules on a petition against a municipal order to close it to traffic.

During Saturday's clashes, fervently religious protesters heckled drivers and threw eggs and tomatoes at secular residents.