Speaking to Kol Berama Radio on Wednesday, Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5772, Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul explained City Hall is giving thought to the idea of dividing the city between chareidi and non-frum areas.
The mayor added that the city has opened a hotline telephone number, urging residents to report all incidents. He stated that if the idea of splitting the city would prove advantageous it would be addressed seriously.
Just a few weeks ago when the idea was put forward the mayor explained he is opposed, simply rejecting the idea outright. He explained we must work towards bridging our differences, that which separates us, also pointing out that segregation would demand duplication of many services, hence a significant burden on city resources. He added that even in older areas of Beit Shemesh, where the population is predominately non-chareidi, there are chareidi families, explaining a segregation plan simply would not work.
After the latest attack, the attempted lynching of 27-year-old Natalie Moshiach, the mayor met with her to express his profound sorrow over the event. He stressed the overwhelming number of residents, chareidim and chilonim alike live side-by-side without conflict, stressing his administration will not tolerate violence from extremists identifying with any sector.
The mayor has called on police to step up patrols in the area of conflict and to be increasingly vigilant in the hope of preventing additional violence.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
YES! The city SHOULD be split!
It should be split between the decent law-abiding people, and the lawless thugs who think they can do whatever they want to others.
I’ve even thought of a name of the section for this second group. I call it PRISON!
I heard the interview this morning on K”B, and b”h we have a good representative of our city as our leader. He tells the masses that the situation isn’t as wild as the media makes it to be. I’m very happy I voted for him 3 years ago.
AinOhdMilvado: I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Time to build a wall like they do for the Arabs.
I realize that we all are horrifically appalled at the behavior of these nut-job kanah’im and the massive chillul Hashem they create on a regular basis, which no one can accept or tolerate….but YMN should refrain from using inflammatory words and phrases that are complete heresay. The prosecution claims it was like a lynching, but we do not know if that is overzealous prosecutory zeal or the truth. It may be possible that this was predominantly an attack against her property, her car and only a minor assault upon her personally. Attempted lynching is attempted murder. Let’s let the court decide, not the media.
The division of the city will be a political fight – every meter contested.
One prize will be the Orot Banot School. That was the place where people began heckling young girls as the went to and from school.
The national-religious (and anglo) community worked for years to get a building for their expanding school children. At the same time, the charedi community expanded until communities almost touched at the school.
With the Orot Banot School so close to the dividing line, splitting the community with the charedi border moved only a few hundred meters, would bring the school into the proposed charedi city.
R”L I wonder if a “get” delivered between these divided cities would require a “befani nechtav, befani nechtam”.
Dividing the city is not enough. They need to wall off the Chareidim into a “ghetto-like” area with the residents only allowed to leave the walled off area under strict controls and in small groups to protect the normal citizens of Beit Shemesh and nearby areas against attack by these crazies. In an ideal world, they would be expelled or deported from EY but no civilized nation would take them in.