Deputy Transportation Minister MK Rabbi Shmuel Halpert was
taken on a working tour of Beitar Illit by Mayor Rabbi
Yitzchok Pindrus.
The Deputy Minister's visit began in the mayor's office with
a planned working meeting attended by Deputy Mayor Rabbi Meir
Rubinstein, City Hall Director Rabbi Moshe Leibovitz and Rav
Hillel Friedman representing city residents. During the
course of the meeting the Mayor raised the issue of the
city's transportation and infrastructure development needs.
The Deputy Minister promised to stand by the city on all
matters related to transportation, road safety and road
infrastructures.
Afterward the Deputy Minister joined the Mayor and public
representatives for a tour of the city's security command
center with dozens of cameras positioned all around the fence
surrounding the city and operating in full coordination with
the security services, Magen David Adom, the police, and the
fire department. Rabbi Halpert was highly impressed with the
command center, saying it reflects the city's
professionalism.
He also visited the new community center, the impressive
Torah-studies library and the city's Torah institutions.
After the tour a special meeting was held in the city council
hall with the deputy mayors and council members in
attendance.
During the meeting Rabbi Halpert told of a meeting that
morning with Transportation Minister Meir Shetreet, noting
that in almost every meeting with Mr. Shetreet he raises the
issue of the transportation crisis in Beitar Illit. The
problem stems from the need for armored buses, which provide
less seating space and, due to the added weight, are slow and
allow no standing in the aisles; furthermore, due to the high
price of armored buses the fleet is too small to meet the
city's needs.
"The government must provide an immediate solution for the
city's transportation problem by removing the requirement to
travel in bulletproof buses," the Deputy Minister said. "How
can it be that this requirement applies only to public
transportation, whereas private vehicles have no such
restriction? Either there is a [genuine] security need that
obligates everyone to drive in bulletproof [vehicles] or the
road does not have security problems and everyone is
permitted to travel it in regular vehicles."
Rabbi Halpert said he has asked the Transportation Minister
to initiate a meeting with the Defense Minister to discuss
ending the requirement for bulletproof buses traveling to and
from Beitar Illit or to demand the government help with the
purchase of a sufficient number of armored buses to allow
residents to reach their destination in a timely fashion. The
Deputy Minister added that during a working meeting with the
upper echelon of the Transportation Ministry, Minister
Shetreet promised to issue a tender for public transportation
in Beitar Illit within one month.
Rabbi Halpert said the Minister also appointed him to attend
to transportation around the country, including the issue of
traffic accidents in the chareidi sector. "Toward this end I
intend to set up, in the immediate future, a special steering
committee in order to bolster teaching road and traffic
safety in chareidi educational institutions, which have been
discriminated against for many years in addressing this
important issue."
