It appears that Kfar Saba is joining other cities as a venue for anti-chilul shabbos protests, with one scheduled for today, Monday night. The organizers have targeted the chilul shabbos surrounding soccer matches held in the city as the reason for the event.

According to Mayor Yehuda Ben-Chamu, the city is 80% chilonim, secularists who do not observe shabbos. He feels that the city’s residents have managed to live harmoniously and such protests will only feed flames of conflict, calling them “unwanted and counter-productive”.

The mayor explained that he actually would prefer the soccer matches on Friday for a number of reasons, but the Israel Soccer League is responsible for such decisions, not him or the mayor of other cities, deferring shouts of protest to the soccer league directors.

The mayor explained that he actually requested the move to Friday, but the league turned down his request, and now, he is preparing for the protests, which he feels is most unfortunate.

Mayor Ben-Chamu boasts a good relationship with the city’s frum community and he blames a minority of extremists for the protest which he is certain will not result in any positive results.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)