It appears the stormy protests outside Yeshivas Pnei Shmuel in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Yerushalayim over recent days will not prevent Jerusalem City Hall from demolishing the illegal additions to the building. Yeshiva officials have also pointed out that Rav Wolfson Shlita was quick to hurry to the yeshiva when he heard of the protests on Monday night despite not being well, unwilling to accept the Chilul Hashem. It is pointed out most of the bnei torah in the streets, those burning garbage bins and confronting police were not from Pnei Shmuel but from neighboring yeshivos.
Arrests were made during the violence at night and on Tuesday, and in one case, a tire of a police van was punctured by a talmid yeshiva.
However, despite the effort to prevent the demolition, it is reported that a yeshiva representative on Tuesday night signed an agreement with the city by which the yeshiva will pay a NIS 100,000 fine for illegal building within a week. The sum is to cover the costs of the demolition and the fees surrounding the demolition order. This will be accomplished no later than 6 Nissan.
It also appears some yeshiva officials will face criminal charges for the illegal construction and this too will lead to a fine, at least an additional NIS 100,000.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
They should have called themselves an Arab institution. The Iriyah would have let them get away with it then.
have the Zionists EVER demolished a mosque that is illegally built in Yerushalyim?
These demonstrations in support of illegal construction by yeshivos are a big chilul hashem and raise significant questions of pikuach nefesh since they divert the security forces from focusing on terrorists. The police should quickly bulldoze any illegal buildings or demolish the illegal additions to legal structures and not allow this to drag out for months.