Beit Shemesh Mayor (Shas) Rabbi Moshe Abutbul is trying to remain optimistic following the Supreme Court ruling compelling a second round of municipal elections in the city. Abutbul was reelected to a second term amid accusations of widespread election fraud by members of the city’s chareidi community, albeit a small number of people but enough to place a shadow of doubt on the election outcome. He feels the decision to disqualify the election is strictly anti-chareidi and that the day will come when chareidim will be prevented from voting. He does not accept contentions that election fraud may have contributed to his victory.
The mayor and Shas officials are releasing statements of confidence that the mayor will enjoy another election victory, promising the campaign will address the issues and there will not be any mudslinging or the like. Abutbul added that while a different court ruling would have been welcome, no one is surprised but nevertheless, an effort had to be made by petitioning the high court.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
12 Responses
Being that Chareidim are becoming the majority… they are a near majority in Beit Shemesh today and will be an overwhelming majority by the next election thus insuring continuing Chareidi electoral victories down the line… and this majority is repeating itself in municipalities across Israel… indeed the State will need to revoke Chareidi voting rights to prevent these undesired elements from winning at the ballot box.
Abutbul is just like the driver grumbling “antisemite” when the police officer pulls him over for doing 80 in a 55 mph zone.
Why is he ignoring the false voter ID’s that were found?
And why are supposedly frum people making fraudulent ID’s?
And where do they get the chutzpah to complain when they’re caught?
Israelis need to learn that unreasonable extremist statements are not productive and just foster more tension and animosity.
And that political filth is not limited to seculars.
Look you cant blame Abutbul for trying to hold on to his election (his job is to get elected) any more than you can hold it against the court for invalidating it (their job is to enforce the law). If the fraud that was documented is not what caused him to be elected he should win again race again by the same or similar margins. More Importantly if Abutbul was not helped by this fraud he should be aiming his complaints toward those who lacked in faith of his victory and attempted to steal an election he could win fairly.
only about 200 votes were proven to be fraudulent, and abutbul won by nearly 1000
so the court’s decision that many more were fraudulent too, is complete anti-chareidi, and has no judicial basis
Israel was not founded on democratic principles. It was founded on the idea of establishing a zionist (i.e. secular) state, regardless of what the people wanted. Had they held democratic elections, the Arabs and Hareidim would have won (in part that is why the zionists assassinated Dr. De Haan – both the zionists and Brits were afraid of Arab-Jewish cooperation). The zionists didn’t risk a free election until they had brought in (through “selective” rescue and immigration) enough zionists, and expelled enough Arabs. As long as they control things, the zionists tolerate (“put up with”) hareidim dabbling in politics, but if push comes to shove, they are quite willing to shove.
It’s just a ridiculous, inflammatory statement by Abutbul.
Toras Moshe: That’s an absurd statement. I suspect you know it’s absurd. I can’t believe you would really believe such things. So why say them?
Nahapochu: I’m with you.
i wouldnt be surprised that torasmoshe is right,
there probably would come a time when the tzionim will say “you don’t serve in the army, you cant vote” thereby disqualifying most chareidim and arabs
To all of the above: Imagine the following, in the coming years the fight for chareidim in the army does not let up. The animosity between the two groups in Israel deepens, and the quest for victory is burning in their hearts.
From the depths of the secular left a radical idea is formed, Whoever is serving or has served their duty in the IDF is a full citizen, whoever has not, has a status of a “citizen who has not fulfilled his share”.
Building on this idea the secular movement add on that voting rights are reserved for those who are full citizens however anyone who has not fulfilled their part should not have the right to vote unless there was a legal waiver given to them.
Because the Knesset already passed a law that created a category of “citizen who has not fulfilled his share”, the secular movement take their case to the supreme court of Israel. After months of deliberations the court renders their decision that indeed, voting is the right of a full citizen and anyone who is not a full citizen cannot vote.
I may believe that Chareidim should be serving in the army, but I will never be naive enough to think that the day when Israel does not let Chareidim vote will never come.
Aboutbol may or may not deserve to be the mayor of Beit Shemesh, but his prediction might just be accurate. Only time will tell…
In all countries CITIZENS vote and non-citizens do not!! What determines citizenship is another item that may in the future be discussed?
I find most of these comments ridiculous, fraud/lies/dishonesty was found in the last election so the court decided time for another election….Why the big to do??? A waste of time,,, for sure, a waste of $$$,,for sure…perhaps Bet Shemesh is in for a new administration. Maybe Cohen can do a better job!!
There are plenty of people in Israel that are not secular nor Haredim.
Spitting on little kids doesn’t gain you friends