The negotiations between Degel Hatorah and Shlomi Emunim with the mayor of Beit Shemesh, Moshe Abutbul, regarding the issue of support for his candidacy for mayor, have been hitherto slow. Neither side was in a hurry to close, especially when Abutbul was the only candidate for mayor. However, this coming Sunday, Dr. Aliza Bloch is expected to announce her bid for mayor of Beit Shemesh and may even win the support of the chareidim.

Bloch, a resident of the city and mother of four, is in education. She has been at the head of the Brancho Weiss education network in recent years. The schools affiliated with this network operate within the framework of general and chareidi schools. Today, Bloch is at the head of the Levinsky College’s executive training program.

In the previous elections, Bloch announced that she was running in the local elections under Bayit Yehudi, but then, in a surprising move, Bayit Yehudi ousted Bloch and announced her support for Eli Cohen. Following the impeachment, Bloch took a step back from local politics, which is expected to play in her favor, since she did not exhaust her campaign against the chareidi public.

On the face of it, a chareidi candidate who will run with the support of all the chareidi parties will win the victory in Beit Shemesh. Although the previous elections ended in favor of Abutbul in a gap of only hundreds of votes, since then, Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel has been populated by families from the chareidi sector, which is an impressive addition to the local chareidi powerbase.

That said, many Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel residents are less than satisfied with City Hall as there are issues pertaining to infrastructure and poor services. Bloch appears to be probing towards determining her chances if she enters the race. She is like to gain some support for the former Americans as well, as they too are dissatisfied with the current administration.

While she has not officially announced her candidacy, she has begun to campaign on some level, perhaps a trial balloon. She is expected to announce her candidacy next week.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)