A fuller post on the issue of the OROT girls' school is going to be coming shortly by someone who knows the details and facts better than I do. For now, this post will be brief and the purpose is to make a m'cha'a, protest, and hope that it can somehow facilitate my city leadership not making a big mistake.

The OROT girls school has been given evacuation orders by the mayor. The reason he wants to evacuate the school is because it is on a plot of land in Givat Sharett, but it is at the edge of RBS B as well and in close proximity to a strip of houses on the edge that are inhabited by RBS B residents, of the kannoim variety. These thugs have threatened the school that if the school dares to move in as scheduled, they will vandalize the building and cause harm the girls.

The mayor, instead of standing up to the threats, warning them, involving the police, instead is giving them free reign. he is telling the girls that he worries for their safety and therefore cannot allow them to use the building.

I have not yet heard that he has offered a different school building instead. He is throwing them out of the building they are meant to be in, with school starting later this week, and it seems that he is not even finding them an alternate location. That is really an aside though. This is an issue I am sure can be worked out if it comes to that. It just seems strange to me that he is evicting them so close to the start of the school year without having an alternative already in place.

Another point I would make is that the mayor has said many times the city is open to all types of people. he even claims that he goes to housing fairs around the world and pitches the city to people of all types, to communities of all types. He says if people don't buy here, it is not his fault, as he is not chasing anyone away but opens his arms to all. To that I would say that when he does things like this, it does not matter how wide he opens his arms at housing fairs. People remember these stories, these incidents. If he is not willing to actively facilitate people of all stripes to live here, but gives dominance to the most unaccepting group, those people visiting all the housing fairs around the world will scoff at his open arms gesture as they know what happens and where they will be in the food chain of the city.

It is reprehensible that the mayor give in to these threats. Instead of worrying about their safety and evacuating them, he should be worrying about their safety and dealing with the source of the threats.

There is going to be a general protest against this decision at 6:30 pm today (there will be a tefillas mincha before the protest at 6 pm) at the OROT plot on Ramat Neria along Rehov Herzog.