Mayor of Beit Shemesh Dani Vaknin, continues to treat the
city's chareidi community as second class citizens, despite
the fact that they supported him in the municipal elections
half a year ago. According to city residents, city hall
workers went so far as to physically attack the principal of
a Torah institution. The incident occurred during a protest
along with his students over the difficult conditions in his
school.
The Mogen Avos institutions in Beit Shemesh were founded
three years ago, and include a talmud Torah for boys,
a school for girls and kindergartens. The schools are
scattered in three different buildings and include some 200
children, studying under very overcrowded conditions.
Chadash, a Beit Shemesh newspaper, reports that the
institutions' administration asked for an urgent meeting with
the mayor to discuss the problem. However, the mayor has
ignored these requests as well as letters sent to him on the
matter.
As a result, the Mogen Avos administration -- accompanied by
parents, teachers and children -- held a prayer rally in the
open area beside Beit Shemesh's city council, where they
recited Tehillim.
Suddenly, the peaceful atmosphere was broken by municipal
employees who marched over to the protesters. One physically
attacked the institution's director, Rabbi Doniel Simon. The
small children began to cry.
Police arriving on the scene were angry that municipality
employees had taken the law into their own hands. Later, the
workers approached the principal of Magen Avos and asked his
forgiveness. Parents who witnessed the criminal act
photographed the attack. They claim that this is not the
first time that city hall employees have physically battered
residents -- at the instructions of the mayor -- "a fact
which makes the crime even more serious." They announced that
they intend to sue the municipality.
City residents claim that the mayor, Dani Vaknin, is behaving
like a despot, and does whatever he pleases despite the large
financial deficits of the city. Vaknin held a press
conference a number of days ago in which he boasted about his
recent achievements. For some reason, this list of
accomplishments did not include the chareidi community or the
new neighborhoods in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Various people in Beit Shemesh have been collecting
information about Vaknin's functioning as mayor, and plan to
turn to the prospective Interior Minister with the demand
that he appoint a committee to take over the debt-ridden
city.
