Just before Shabbos began, newly elected Mayor of Beit Shemesh Aliza Bloch succeeded in signing coalition agreements with enough parties in the city to form a coalition without including the Shas or Degel HaTorah parties in the government. The new coalition members in the city include the Likud party, Agudas Yisroel, and the Jewish Home party.
In addition to Shas and Degel Hatorah, the Bnei Torah/Peleg Yerushalmi party also has not yet signed any coalition agreement.
Bloch now will enjoy a coalition majority of 12 seats, and with the upcoming resignation of former Mayor Moshe Abutbul, that majority will grow to 13 out of a total of 21 seats.
A high ranking person in the Degel HaTorah party said that the reason his party has not yet signed an agreement with Bloch is that she has failed to commit regarding certain “basic” issues surrounding the topics of religion and the purity of the Jewish home and Mikvaot.
Degel HaTorah is particularly upset that according to current coalition agreements, the Jewish Home party, a national religious party, will receive the position of Director of the City Council’s Religious Affairs Portfolio, which will make their agreeing to be part of a coalition very difficult, as the two parties do not see eye-to-eye on the proper running of mikvaot in the city.
On Monday, the city council will meet for the first time with its new coalition and under the leadership of Bloch. The council meeting will mainly deal with the appointment of new heads of the various council portfolios and committees as well as ratifying the coalition agreements that were made.
“Today is a holiday for the city of Beit Shemesh,” said Bloch in a statement made after achieving the coalition. “I was happy to see that the city’s importance was of primary concern for all the representatives of all of the parties during our discussions. With our signing a coalition agreement, we emphasized that we will all be a part of the making Beit Shemesh into a better city. From the outset, my goal was to establish a coalition that reflects the entire city. I am happy with the current coalition, and I hope that Degel, Shas and the Bnei Torah party will join in the coming days. As part of our responsibilities, every member of this coalition will represent the interests of all residents of this city, and each of us has agreed and committed to the equality of opportunity for all, as well as to the responsibilities and professionalism that the position of a council member brings.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
I hope she succeeds; even besides the fact that I do not like Degel HaToilet nor sleazy Shas…..
I think the disagreement over the mikvaos could be summed up as:
Degel feels that paying the mikva ladies is a midas chasidus, that they should be gratefull to recieve a couple of times a yovel.
Bayit Yehudi actualy takes these womens positions seriously, and will see to it that they get reimbursed for their service.
Who is Degel HaTorah and Who is Agudas Yisroel ? Thanks
Lord have mercy on us with this woman in the lead of the city. But I’ll give her credit for one thing, she campaigned, she went out to the streets, while the former mayor’s campaign consisted of ‘listen to daas torah.’ The charedi campagin really dropped the ball. Now this lovely lady is destroying shuls.