I wish that instead of supporting calls for mutual respect etc., the Abutbol campaign and rabbonim would actually practice it. It's misleading to be presenting an image of tolerance and mutual respect (as per Abutbol's press release this week) while simultaneously demonizing Eli Cohen, calling him "the enemy," referring to Cohen-voters as "idiots", "porshim min hatzibbur," etc.

maybe now that they support this campaign, that will come to an end?

Great. I look forward to the apologies. What do you think are the odds that they will be forthcoming?

Touching.
How stupid do you have to be to fall for Abutbul's call for refraining from negativity? His entire campaign is about smearing his opponent. Before the campaign I actually thought he was nice but incompetent, kind of like Obama. But I heard him tell outright LIES to a room full of people, and now I have no respect for him.

I hope that tonight's "rally" will also turn into a love fest. Why else would a nearly 100 year old rav schlep from Bnei Brak to RBS?
I eagerly await the words of Ahavas Yisroel and Kavod Habrios.
Perhaps Rav Shteinman should stay overnight and visit the Merkaz tomorrow to see firsthand how much love there is in this "Torah Shtut".

I might have chosen different models for "sheves achim gam yachad". One particular person pictured in the poster is a well known source of hatred and lack of ahavas yisrael in this city.

Putting him in such a poster wasn't the best idea....

Well, clearly Rafi, you seem to be the only one who has gotten the message.

This guy causes hatred. No this guy should see the Merkaz. He should apologize before I can think of making shalom. I see posts like this and I realize all the animosity being claimed against the Abutbol campaign exists just as strongly on the other side(s). Is there any hope of peace? There can't exist Shalom unless "my" guy wins. I know there is enough blame to go around, but this is crazy.

What I appreciate about the sign is that it is realistic. They are not asking for Shalom now. No real hope for that. Just... after the dust settles lets try to start anew.

Anonymous, those who call people out on their hateful statements are not the same as those who make hateful statements!

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I have personally heard angry ranting against the Abutbol administration. I personally have seen Abutbol posters torn down a ripped to shreds. I personally have seen junk mail from the Eli Cohen party that was thrown out of a car window two minutes before Shabbos all over the streets of RBSA so that there would be no time to clean it up before Shabbos. I have seen and heard the ranting that goes on - on both sides - in the Merkaz on Friday. I heard the garbage. I see these posts. I am hoping next Shabbos will be peaceful, but I think this one might be a lost cause.

Anon of 7:01...if you were outside the "kenes" tonight and saw and heard the cries of Nazi, etc to passing cars you would realize who has more hate in their hearts and mouths.

Anonymous, you have to compare like with like. You are talking about regular people. I'm sure you're right, that there are regular people who are Cohen supporters and act terribly. But I don't think that they compare with the actions of the Abutbol regular people.
Then there are the higher-ups - the people running official campaigns, the rabbonim. Here, too, there is no equivalence. I attended the rabbinic rally at Soloveitchik and heard no hate or disparagement towards charedim. Compare that with the Abutbol rallies, with Chadash, etc.

RBS Resident, I have nothing to say, you can be right. I can only comment on what I have seen
Motty, I wasn't there. What is the context? People were driving cars past a kinnos so were they were called Nazis? Something sounds odd. Was there incitement going on? Or just crazy people standing outside yelling at cars that passed by?

There was no calling nazis (at least on any major scale). Maybe it happened, i never heard it. This is ridiculous. stop fueling the fire.

Certainly we all hope for better times after this terribly divisive election is over.

One of the main points of discussion of the election was the Orot school. What I hope for after the election (or even right now) is that the Dati Leumi leadership and those who support Eli Cohen (or anybody else but just not Moshe Abutubol) for mayor finally come clean and recognize that Moshe was not the soley to blame (if he bears any blame at all) for the terrible chilul Hashem and resulting bad name that people think Beit Shemesh has as a result of that.
It is time once and for all to recognize that it was Dov Lipman that fueled the fire and added to the already existing chilul Hashem in amount that far exceeded the original terrible incident. Why have the Dati Leumi rabbonim not spoken about about this. The silence is deafening.

What are you talking about? It's only thanks to the pressure brought on Abutbol as a result of Dov Lipman's actions that Abutbol finally gave permission to Orot to open. The chilul Hashem is not on Dov's shoulders; it's not the responsibilty of Dov or the DL community to sacrifice their school in order to prevent charedim getting a bad rep.

i though this was quite a sweet gesture, although incredibly naive.
then i received a letter from rav mailonwitz - who is pictured in the leaflet - and realised it was satirical

Does anyone know if that jeep and the blasting noise is for Abutbol or the Kupa Shel Tzedaka or perhaps they are one in the same?

Wow Michael. Is it called "outing yourself" as an Am Haaretz when you come out with a statement like that " Look at me world, I have no respect for Rabbonim when they disagree with my viewpoints!"

This is what I get for my own holier-than-thou attitude. To my great embarrassment, I helped build on the Chillul Hashem I was just ranting against and I request assistance in asking Mechila to the person I did it to. The was a Tov procession about 25 minutes ago through the Merkaz and one car with huge speakers blasting stopped in middle of the road and blocked traffic for about 5 minutes straight without moving. I was outraged by the Chutzpah - I don't care what party is being promoted, there were tons of people waiting behind him in traffic. Without thinking, I walked over to the man behind the wheel and yelled at him and called him an animal for causing this frustration. I got caught up in the moment. But to my great embarrassment, people started pushing his car to the side of the road as it seems that even though his speakers were blaring, his car had stalled. It wasn't a gimmick. Just a guy who's car broke down and was probably embarrassed about it. Even if he was doing it on purpose I had no right to do that. I don't know how to go about asking for Mechila, but if anyone knows him please mention this post. And if you know him, perhaps let me know as well so I can be in touch with him. I want to remain anonymous here, so I will try to figure something out about getting in touch, but it really bothers me.

Sent you an email - thanks