Hundreds of residents of Modi’in Illit took part in a motzei shabbos protest against Mayor Yaakov Guterman, who they accuse of preventing the opening of two new mikvaos in the city due to “political considerations”.
According to a Chareidim report, the city established three mikvaos in recent years, one in Brachfeld, Cheftziba and Na’ot HaPisga. While the Brachfeld mikve is operational, the others are closed. While the buildings are completed, there is still finishing work that is required, work that has been delayed due to a dispute.
It appears there is an ongoing dispute between the city leaders and the contractors as to who is responsible to complete the work on the mikvaos. One protestor is quoted as telling Chareidim that Maran Rav Elyashiv instructed Guterman not to permit residents to move into Cheftziba until the mikve is operational, but today we see this is not the case.
The motzei shabbos protest began on the community’s main street, Chafetz Chaim Street in Kiryat Sefer, making its way to the mayor’s home. The protestors claim they enjoy the support of local rabbonim, but they are not at liberty to divulge their names.
Police moved in to maintain order. A spokesman for the mayor refused to comment.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
Reading this post quickly gives you the info that this is an easily solvable issue: MONEY IS NEEDED to complete the job and the question is who is to pay?
The protestors want the MAYOR and his budget to cover the completion costs while the mayor believes that the KEHILLA should pay the costs. So what do you say?
to #1 what’s the difference betweent the mayor paying and the kehila it all comes from thesame place anyways-taxes
YW, you’ve been mislead. There were a few dozen children and youth making some noise for a short period of time, until the local neighborhood police officer showed up in one patrol car, and that’s the whole “hafgana”. The adults involved were less than a minyan.
I don’t know the city politics, but I do know that trusting one resident by phone to report an article is not reliable…
#3 Do not know how the finances work in Israel, in USA if the Mayor pays it comes from taxes (personal, property, sales) and if a Kehilla pays for it — it comes from private donations and fund raising. Quite a difference.
Agree with Smartaleck. I didn’t hear one word either from any hafganah, or from anyone mentioning any hafganah.
The Mayor has enemies in Modiin Elite, and it seems to me that one of them put a timely call through to report a nothing story.