Betar Illit Mayor Meir Rubinstein has sent a letter to state officials seeking to have his city included in ongoing efforts to declare Israeli sovereignty on Maale Adumim. The mayor points out that his city is home to 50,000 chareidim, a city that hosts many major public facilities, yeshivos, batei medrashim, and much more. The letter was sent to Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Deputy Minister Meir Porush, and Knesset Finance Committee Chair MK Moshe Gafne.

Rubinstein expresses his support for the Maale Adumim initiative, while expressing surprise regarding the status of the largest chareidi city which is relatively near the so-called Green Line. He adds that from Betar’s western wide, if one computes the aerial distance to Beit Shemesh, one will be find “it is just a number of meters from the Green Line and its judicial area reaches the Green Line”.

He adds the city’s new industrial area in the English Forest is in the final stages of approval and this will literally connect the city to the Green Line heading west.

The mayor in his letter also recalls the historical significance of Betar, which began 2,000 years ago, during the period of Bayis Sheni and that Betar in Gemara and elsewhere symbolizes achdus. He quotes Gemara Gittin (נח)

“ארבע מאות בתי כנסיות היו בכרך ביתר, ובכל אחת ואחת היו בה ארבע מאות מלמדי תינוקות, וכל אחד ואחד היו לפניו ארבע מאות תינוקות של בית רבן”.

Mayor Rubenstein states one cannot fathom moving ahead with the Maale Adumim initiative without simultaneously doing the same for Betar Illit.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)