Bet Shemesh is an interesting place, from a political perspective. There is always something intriguing going on.

Municipal elections are just a year away. That really makes it too early to start openly campaigning and announcing candidacy, but jockeying for position and misdirection has already begun.

The big questions seem to be:
 * will Moshe Abutbol run for a third term?
 * Will Degel Hatorah, or UTJ, field its own candidate?
 * Will the Degel candidate, if they field one, be Moshe Montag or Shmuel Greenberg, or someone else?

Recently the mayor, Moshe Abutbol, did something very unusual. He announced that he has not yet decided to run, but if Moshe Montag will be the Degel candidate then he, Abutbol, will support Montag and not run.

That is obviously weird. Why would a sitting mayor, contemplating his own run, announce support for a different potential candidate? There are a lot of theories. They don't really matter.

Moshe Abutbol has now announced, seemingly because Degel has not made a decision yet, that he will be running for mayor. Moshe Montag is upset, and the Degel people are upset at Abutbol for trying to influence the Degel decision, and there is a lot of talk as to who is doing what and why.

All I have to point out is that none of this matters. It is all a smokescreen that makes no difference. These are all low level politicians. They are all entirely dependent on what those above them tell them what to do. The decisions as to who will run and which party/parties will support which candidate will be made at a much higher level, between the various national party leaders and the relevant rabbonim.

They can squabble and fight and jockey for position now, but at the end of the day Degel leadership will decide who their person was, and all this squabbling will come to an end. They will talk to Shas leadership and work out their deals as to who will support whom in which cities, including Bet Shemesh, and that will be the end of all this.

This is all just low level noise.

This past week in a local Bet Shemesh newspaper there was something that struck me as very odd. This paper has always been very odd, which is why I don't read it any longer, but this was brought to my attention so I took a look. And, the truth is, this particular item is odd not because of the newspaper but on its own, assuming the paper got the report right.

The paper reported on a meeting between representatives of the residents of RBS C (a.k.a. "Gimmel") and representatives of the various relevant government and local authorities offices to discuss a variety of complaints and problems with the development of the neighborhood.

Most of it is the standard issues that come up when living in what is basically a construction zone.

While people should get the services they pay city taxes for and should be able to live with basic services as provided by the city (in any city), these residents suffer from a combination of living in Bet Shemesh whose provision of services are not all that notable on the best of days, along with living in a neighborhood that is still under development, along with living in a neighborhood that might be very nice but was initially designed poorly (as many of their complaints are about too-narrow streets, lack of paths between streets.forcing them to walk long distances to get between streets, lack of ramps adjacent to neighborhood stairs for strollers, and the like), along with the pressure placed on the municipality, which they gave in to, to populate the neighborhood before it was ready so the residents would not need to continue renting elsewhere until it would actually be ready.

So, yes, the residents have a right to complain about the lack of services, and they deserve to have their problems resolved, but they also need to have realistic expectations, considering the history and context, and know with whom they are dealing.

All that being said, the particular point that struck me as odd was the following:


To be brief, Moshe Montag, the city councilman tasked with the office of engineering of the city and responsible for the construction and development of RBS C (along with the rest of Bet Shemesh), as well as being a resident of the neighborhood, spoke at this meeting.

Montag said that he is not responding to the complaints as a representative of the city, but is adding his voice to the complaints as a resident of the neighborhood. Montag went on to say that the situation is intolerable and all these problems should have been resolved a long time ago.

So Montag is complaining about the fact that he himself did not do the work necessary to resolve the problems long ago and he has left an intolerable situation for residents? Who is he complaining to about himself? After he expressed his complaints, did he then put on his other hat and write down his complaints and take notes as to what he needs to do to resolve his own complaints?

This makes no sense. It is like one big joke and perhaps some form of virtual reality..

The big news in Bet Shemesh today is an attempt by City Councilmen Moshe Montag and Meir Balayish to get the City Attorney General fired.

Miki Gastwirth, a dati fellow, has held the position of Attorney General of Bet Shemesh for many years, but might soon be pushed out of his job. Montag and Balayish want him fired, supposedly, for making it difficult for them and not automatically signing off on whatever they want.

Specifically, he made trouble for some businesses that were doing some illegal and unlicensed things, while Montag and Balayish are saying that it is difficult enough already to bring business to Bet Shemesh, he doesn't need to make ti difficult for the businesses that are already here. More generally, they say that he is flexible for any issue that comes up for the general population, but raises difficulties whenever an issue is on the table regarding the Haredi community. And, they say, he acts like he is the acting mayor of the city and does what he wants.

Montag will be raising the proposal to fire Gastwirth at the next Iryah council session.
source: Behadrei and Kooker

I don't care who holds this position. I met Gastwirth once or twice, but have no personal relationship with him and I do not personally benefit from his decisions any more or less than anybody else in the city. I don't care if he keeps his job or if he loses it, on a professional basis.

I find the claims ironic. In the past Gastwirth has been accused by the general population of being something akin to an Uncle Tom - despite not being Haredi, he, supposedly, did whatever the mayor and Haredi councilmen wanted of him and generally did nothing specific using his position to help the general population.

I don't know if he will survive this or get fired, but I hope that the decision either way falls on a professional basis and not just because someone doesn't get what he wants when he wants it and has the votes to throw his weight around.

what's special about these pictures?

They are of a election parlor meeting held by UTJ's MK Moshe Gafni, accompanied by local city councilman Moshe Montag, for the general public (not their normal voter base of Haredim) in Bet Shemesh. And, yes, in the second picture that is Amalia Buchbot sitting there in the front row on the right side. Buchbot at one time created an outcry when she called Haredim a cancer on society.

I am curious to hear how it went, were people receptive, what questions did they ask, did they talk about Bet Shemesh specifically...

The residents of Jerusalem generally send their children to live in Bet Shemesh, where we are building 25,000 housing units. But, a small minority of them prefer to continue living in Jerusalem, yet there are not enough apartments available. For them, I am happy to vote in favor of this plan. 1500 apartments will be enough for them, the rest can all come to Bet Shemesh.

  -- Moshe Montag, Bet Shemesh city councilman, and member of regional for planning and construction of Jerusalem region, upon voting approval for the construction of 1500 apartments in Ramat SHlomo neighborhood in Jerusalem. (quote taken from Chadash newspaper)

Yesh Atid, the political party led by Yair Lapid, held his official event yesterday announcing his party list and introducing the candidates. Rabbi Dov Lipman from Bet Shemesh was introduced as the candidate for the 17th spot on the Yesh Atid list.



I am not a big fan of polls, and at this point in an election they are very unreliable, but even with the best polls Yesh Atid received when they first joined the marketplace of political parties 17 was only borderline realistic.

I don't know if Rabbi Lipman will make it into the Knesset or not, but we wish him the best of luck. Bet Shemesh can use every MK it can possibly get. Bet Shemesh, as far as I know, has never before sent anyone to the Knesset, under any party platform. Rabbi Lipman joins a number of other local Bet Shemesh people running, or rumored to be running, for Knesset. Bet Shemesh might send 4 locals to the Knesset, under the best of circumstances (though that depends on how you define "best of circumstances"):

1. Keti Shitreet, 24th on the Likud list. Definitely a realistic spot, but it could depend on how the final unified list with Yisrael Beiteinu will be formed.
2. Rabbi Dov Lipman, 17th on Yesh Atid's list.
3. Rabbi Moshe Abutbol, his patron, Rav Reuven Elbaz, is supposedly pushing for Abtubol to be added to the Shas list. I have heard the slots considered for him, if at all, are anywhere from the 8th until the 11th slot. If it happens, it could be realistic for him to get in to the Knesset. 
4. Moshe Montag, rumored to be considered for the 3rd spot on the Degel list, which might translate to 7th on the unified UTJ list. Again, not really realistic, but possible under the right circumstances. 

The deadline for submitting final party lists is I think this Thursday, so we will see who the final decisions will include and who they will exclude, but Bet Shemesh can use every patron and voice it can get at the national level, so I wish all of them the best of luck. Even being in unrealistic spots, it just means they respectively will have to work all that much harder to make their spots realistic.