After thousands of chareidim took part in a protest against Arad City Hall and Mayor Nisan Ben-Hamo on Tuesday, 20 Kislev, the mayor fired back, aiming his remarks at Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, a Gerre Chossid. Litzman has been working hard to enlist the support of Israel’s entire chareidi community, chassidish and litvish, in light of the discrimination against the 1,200 Gerre families living in Arad.

Ben-Hamo, of the Yesh Atid party, told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) that 85% of Arad is secular and that is a fact and before the arrival of the Gerre families, the frum and secular lived side-by-side in Arad. He accuses Gerre of being “extremist”, adding Litzman is leading the battle to take over the city.

Ben-Hamo explained in the interview that the chareidim are now in opposition and they are not pleased. He insists that to date, the Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Chabad and dati leumi communities all lived in tranquility in the city until the arrival of the Gerre Chassidus families, which Ben-Hamo insists are trying to take over the main shul and the city’s services. He accuses Gerre of breaking into the main shul and ousting the veteran mispallalim, and it was these same mispallalim who came a few weeks ago and disrupted Shabbos tefilos in a first step towards regaining control of the shul, which has become a Gerre beis medrash.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)