IKEA Eshtaol (just outside Bet Shemesh by the Eshtaol Junction) only just opened, receiving a special allowance from the regional appeals committee regarding their zoning violations and building permits, and they might already soon be shut down.

The opening of the IKEA branch was stopped a little while back due to zoning violations and building beyond what the permits allowed. As the country eased up Corona restrictions and tried to get the economy back on track and allow businesses to function and employ people to get them off of unemployment, the committee decided to allow IKEA to open despite the violations so that a few hundred local residents could find gainful employment, in addition to the tax revenues IKEA would bring in.

The Justice Ministry is taking a closer look at this decision and is considering shutting IKEA down.

According to The Marker, the Justice Ministry feels the decision to allow IKEA Eshtaol to open was illegal. They are looking into it and will consider further action that might include shutting the branch until the proper hoops are jumped through.

I guess they did not pay off all the right people...

it seems silly to threaten to shut them down. At this time of economic difficulty they should bend over backwards for big companies to open and to employ hundreds of people. They should ease the bureaucracy involved, not make it more difficult and cumbersome. Granted, IKEA needs to follow the rules like everyone else, but the government should not be making it so difficult to do business.

Supposedly the restaurant/cafeteria in IKEA Eshtaol is set to open tomorrow. You might want to take advantage, or even if there is just something you have been waiting to buy there, before they get shut down.