(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

A Jerusalem court on Monday, 4 Menachem Av, rejected the petition by Jerusalem City Councilman Yochanan Weizman, who asked for an interim injunction to compel the Jerusalem municipality to petition the National Planning & Building Council against the District Committee’s decision to allow the Mitcham HaTachana to continue opening on Shabbos.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled that Weizman’s petition against Jerusalem Mayor Barkat is out of place. In the municipality’s objection it was stated that the petitioner, “a single council member, is taking a political and interests-oriented move in order to advance political goals.”

Weizman’s petition was filed due to the municipality’s refusal to appeal to the National Council. The chareidi representative petitioned the court in order to compel Barakat to file the appeal.

The petition states, among other things, that “the (chareidi) petitioners did everything in their power to prevent the submission of the petition, but they came to great harm. The mayor scorns the council’s decisions, with a clear statement to the protocol that he does not intend to comply with the council’s decisions.”

It was also written, “This is not a one-time matter. The mayor’s behavior is the scarlet thread in all the council’s decisions regarding the Mitcham HaTachana, while disregarding the bylaws, keeping businesses closed and opening them, enforcing planning and building laws, enforcing building violations, while creating special autonomy for the Mitcham HaTachana in Jerusalem.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)