A large rally was held in the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood
of Beit Shemesh on Friday, 5 Adar I in protest at Mayor Dani
Vaknin's antagonistic behavior towards the chareidi
sector.
The Municipality reacted to the demonstration by presenting a
trumped-up list of buildings which it claimed had been
allotted to chareidi institutions.
Chareidi activists stress that this list only shows that the
Municipality considers it preferable for students from the
Ramat Beit Shemesh chareidi neighborhoods to study outside of
the neighborhood. The Municipality feels no obligation to
provide chareidi Ramat Beit Shemesh residents with its most
basic needs.
At the rally it was decided that this demonstration would be
the first step in a series of confrontations with the mayor
and the municipal coalition, who seem united in their
attempts the hamper religion in Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef.
The rally closed with the words, which reflect the
community's desire only for the minimal services it deserves:
"We won't move from here. We will raise our children and
grandchildren in this neighborhood according to the chareidi
lifestyle. Torah and educational institutions will burgeon
here. Despite the onslaught, we won't surrender. We will do
everything in our power to foster the growth of Torah and
yirah in this neighborhood, which sheds its spiritual
light upon the entire city of Beit Shemesh."
The religious community at large joined the chareidi sector
in the rally to identify with its struggle, noting that
chareidim are leading the battle that is really everyone's
and have set the stage. "We identify with the struggle of the
chareidim against the mayor's dangerous aims," these
residents stressed. "Despite the fact that the general
religious community has received land for educational
institutions and synagogues, we protest the mayor's behavior
towards the chareidim because it causes contention between
Jews. We call upon the mayor to give the chareidim the
structures and lands they rightly deserve," they said.
