On the night of Thursday to Friday we will move the clocks one hour ahead • As published in Israel Today, the decision follows a warning that computers in the country may collapse
Following the recommendation of the National Security Staff, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced Monday that the summer time will begin on the night between Thursday and Friday this week. At the meeting it was agreed that the daylight saving time may not be postponed to May 1st. At the meeting, some of the ministries of the Interior, Finance, Justice as well as the Governmental Communications Authority, the Cyber Array, IDF representatives and other bodies took part.
As I recall, Deri recommended putting off daylight saving time in early May to reduce light hours, thereby reducing the number of residents roaming the public space in the face of concern about the spread of the corona virus. His recommendation was supported by various parties, and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit supported the initiative in principle.
Outbreak of corona virus \\ Archive photo: Gil Kramer
As published today in Israel Today, the Government Communications Authority and Israel Digital announced that the date of transition between the hibernation period and the summer time is structurally defined in the operating systems of servers, computers, communications equipment and even cell phones. So in order to change the date of the watch change, operating system manufacturers must produce a patch version, distribute it, and then install the update on every server, computer and phone on government computers and on many parties in the economy. The server update involves many working days and cannot be done until Thursday night, the time of daylight saving time starts.
The government's ICA and "Digital Israel" further noted that in a situation where some computers work in different time zones, malfunctions and disabling of complete computing arrays may occur. In addition, the absence of many private sector employees will make it difficult to make the change.
This morning, a conference call was held by the Deputy Chief of the Brigadier General. After being determined by the DOJ that there is no legal prevention, we will examine whether the daylight saving time and the consequences of economic and operational rejection in the IDF and other security agencies can be technically rejected.
After a lengthy discussion, a clear recommendation was made that the daylight saving time could not be postponed for several reasons: First, several months' technological assessments are required. Second, the media bodies are under heavy loads, and any failure can disable entire systems. And third, there is a danger of harm to the IDF's operational competence and medical technologies in hospitals.