Five public officials in Beit Shemesh were among ten persons taken into custody during a raid involving Israel Police and Israel Tax Authority officials.
A large police force arrived in Beit Shemesh during the night of motzei Shabbos and made arrests at a number of homes. The locals are already used to seeing police arrive at night and there was an immediate reaction, protests and demonstrations against police forces. However, this was not about arresting people for breaking the law during protests or evading the draft, but this was about public officials accused of taking bribes and breaking other laws.
This time, the suspects include a candidate for mayor in the city who runs a certain department in the city, a businessman, an architect and a lawyer.
The list of detainees includes two public servants, who appear to have used their public position for their own gain. The project, which appears to be the Beit Shemesh Holyland project, involves a building project on Sfas Emmes Street. In 2016, the Satmar Kehilla in Kiryas Yoel purchased the project and has already invested at least $4 million. It is added the persons who invested in the project are American citizens.
[Senior Beit Shemesh Degel Hatorah Official Among Those Arrested; Mayor Abutbul Responds]
Israel Police’s 443 Major Crimes Unit conducted a clandestine investigation for some time, and when sufficient evidence was gathered, the arrests were ordered. The suspects face charges including bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and tax evasion.
According to the suspicions, the suspects allegedly received money in exchange for advancing the interests of others, in violation of the law. The suspects were brought for questioning by the police, and on Sunday afternoon, 21 Iyar, they will be arraigned in the Rishon L’Tzion Magistrate court.
Eight months ago, in BeChadrei Chareidim reported that the Jerusalem police fraud investigators arrested Yeshayahu Ehrenreich, a member of the Beit Shemesh municipal council, and holds the education portfolio in the city. He was arrested along with his associate, on suspicion of diverting the terms of a public tender to transport children worth hundreds of thousands of shekels or more, in a manner that led to a certain company winning it, despite the fact that it did not meet the required conditions.
During the investigation, Ehrenreich’s office in City Hall was raided by police. Eight months later, on erev Shabbos, Ehrenreich received a letter from police informing him he was not be charged due to a lack of evidence.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: #דוסינייעס)
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11 Responses
רבותי חייבים לחזור בתשובה.
והמבין יבין
This is what rav aharon feldman meant when he said the election of 2013 was the last chance to turn beit shemesh into bnei brak.
Here we are five years later , in our all our bnei brakulous glory.
Thank you so much for this chillul hashem, guys.
And good work showing the not yet religious what happens when you mix Torah and politics.
TO: chareidi amiti
You are not completely correct. Because this has nothing much to do with them. This has to do more with the group of people who are building this complex!!! and now that some Frum Yidden ratted on them (and for that they have lost their Olam Habah) they have lost their entire investment. You don’t know if this story is at all true.
So the crime was that the elected criminals got caught?
And turning over lawbreakers is worse than the crime?
Do you want moshiach to come so you can get away with this at will?
This article is missing major BACKGROUND:
This building is being built in the heart of a Litvish community by satmar chassidim. The building is way way bigger and taller than those in the area, and is being built on lot originally designated for public use. Rabbonim in the city are certain that their brothers in city hall hae sold their neighborhood for some under-the-table cash by Satmar, and feel this will change the character of the neighborhood.
The corruption in Bet Shemesh has long been an open secret. How many shuls were told to use specific contractors or suppliers if they wanted the land? Or that they had to hire someone from the iriyah off the books as a “consultant”? Or that certain american neighborhoods weren’t given many local services because they didn’t vote the right way – or because they could afford to provide their own parks and civil services? What about the garbage pickup that didn’t happen before Pesach – from a “charedi” administration no less!
These arrests don’t scratch the surface.
I don’t blame the gedolim who came and told the public to vote for these ganavim. I blame the askanim who lied to the gedolim. I blame the graphical artists who faked images. We all knew this day was coming. Even if the courts in this world don’t find them guilty, we believe in true justice.
CA, this is what happens when people PRETEND to be mixing Torah and politics. Chazal already used the expression “lo tocho k’baro”. The same goes for the drug smuggling bachur.
Way, on the contrary. they did a big mitzva in turning in people who have apparently been robbing the tzibbor.
What is really funny is how the protesters immediately came out into the streets. I thought that they only learn torah. Maybe they should all go into the IDF and be the troops who sleep with their boots on.
Amazing how all of you convicted them just based on an accusation. You seem to all stand up for what’s moral, but do so, so immorally.The Israeli police were ready to arrest Netanyahu for accepting a cigar from a friend. They mix politics and other biases in their investigations, but for you that is enough to consider them all criminals. Oh, not just them, the whole Beit Shemesh. Oh, not just the whole Beit Shemesh, but all the religious. To the extent that Avi wants them to go to the IDF. Can you compare the amount of crimes that the irreligious are responsible for to the few that come from the religious community? The jails in Israel are not filled with the religious, sorry.
MDshweks: Incorrect. Sfas Emes street is as its name clearly implies a largely Gur neighborhood. There is a also a not so small Sefardi community, as the Mayor’s shul is down the block.
On another not, I love how everyone is rushing to judgement, yet this very same article talks about Ehrenreich who seemed to be as guilty as these guys and eight (took them a while) months later was informed that he was innocent
When the chareidi rabinical establishment campaign for these dirty politicians, and sign halachic declarations obligating torah jews to fulfill a mitzva by voting for these corrupt yeshiva dropouts, then that community is responsible for the chillul hashem that we saw on Sunday.
But instead of leading the pack to tshuva , or reexamining their flawed hashkafa, these rabbis will brush off their frocks, scream at the “mesira” for reporting lawbreakers to law enforcement, encourage their flocks to strengthen their misdirection, and persist in the snowballing desecration of the Yiddishkeit that i love.
Thanks guys.
Take a trip to a jail in Israel.
You will be humbled to see how many mehadrin meals and daf yomi shiurim there are.