Following the motzei shabbos protest regarding mikvaos in Modi’in Illit, opponents to the mayor, R’ Yaakov Guterman tell of how the mayor is using threats in an effort to silence the voice of opposition.

According to a Kol Chareidi report, quoting R’ Yaakov Horowitz, a leader of the mikve campaign against the mayor, reports that City Hall has signaled it will retaliate against Horowitz’s chassidus in the form of holding up budgets if he comes out publically in the media against him.

He was referring specifically to a plot located at 41 Rashbi Street, given to the chassidus to which he belongs, but construction has yet to get underway. There are no funds and no permits to begin construction. Horowitz admits the mayor’s people are doing a good job, explaining in the interview that officials in the chassidus have already turned to him, pressuring him to abandon his public battler against Guterman for the sake of the community.

Modi’in Illit resident Moshe Ben-Shlomo is quoted by Chareidim, explaining “even Nir Barkat knows how to remove trash. A chareidi mayor is supposed to build mikvaos. The municipality levied NIS 18,000 for the infrastructure. The money was collected and work is expected to begin.”

The report adds that if one finds a pit in the road, the hole must be repaired. Then authorities can seek to locate the responsible party. The same holds true with the mikve and the municipality must complete the work and afterwards they can fight it out as to who is responsible to pay, quoting Ben-Shlomo with the analogy.

Ben-Shlomo adds City Hall officials were frightened by the protest and they plan to continue, unwilling to back down, adding he hopes to obtain no less than 10,000 signatures on his petition as well as organizing an atzeres tefilla in a Bnei Brak hall.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)