Interesting developments in Bet Shemesh municipal elections.

Kikar has a report about how Mayor of Bet Shemesh Dr Aliza Bloch failed a mission when the municipal Comptroller Miki Gastwirth ruled against her in a dispute between her and Degel Hatorah. I dont have any information beyond what is in this article, as I no longer pay such close attention to local news, so my comments are based purely on this report.

מיני דרמה פנית חרדית: נראה שלא יהיה קל להחזיר את העיר בית שמש להנהגה החרדית, שנה לבחירות מסייר היום נציג בעלזא ח״כ אייכלר בעיר ובסיום המפגש הוא מביע תמיכה בבלוך לקדנציה נוספת ״אתה יכול להקליט את זה, מאחל לך שבקדנציה הבאה תמשיכי לכהן בתפקיד ראש עיריית בית שמש ולהשלים את מה שהתחלת״ pic.twitter.com/348fhZXQT9

— ארי קלמן | Ari Kalman (@aronkalman1) May 8, 2022

PM Netanyahu made a campaign stop yesterday in RBS. Bibi went to the Meuhedet clinic in RBS where vaccinations against COVID-19 are being given. He and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein spoke and congratulated the patient being vaccinated at the time.

Leaders of Israel, the State of Israel and its citizens are not a children's toy.  Go now into a room together and do what is necessary in order to bring back the central government and the local government to stabilize the miracle called the State of Israel within the social, economic and health threats. And for anyone who has not yet understood, this is an existential threat. We are looking at you and we expect it of you.

this was a completely unacceptable act of violence. In the city of Bet Shemesh there is exceptional cooperation between the chessed organizations, the IDF Home Front Command and The City of Bet Shemesh. We will not let extremists damage the common fabric of society

Mayor of Bet Shemesh Dr Aliza Bloch has suggested to PM Netanyahu that he establish a memorial day for victims of CoronaVirus..

Bloch calls this a war against the plague and those who have died are casualties, not just people who have died. This plague attacks everyone, no matter whether you are secular, a person who wears a knitted kipa, or someone who wears a shtreimel, a man or a woman, young or old. The fight against the plague has shown the good of the Israeli people who have all participated in the battle.
source: Israel Hayom

While I think that creating an official memorial day is a bit unnecessary, I get the difference, as in the fight against cancer the entire public was not called on to stay indoors and in isolation for a month (at least), fighting the flu or car accidents did not take such a toll from, and did not require such a commitment from the entire Israeli public.

If this is going to happen, and I really don't think it is necessary, please at least do not make the mistake again of creating Corona Memorial Day  and scheduling ti during Nissan. Doing so would exclude the Haredi community, as Yom Hashoah does, and they were even a significant portion of the victims or casualties.

the City of Bet Shemesh, led by Mayor Dr Aliza Bloch and Deputy Mayor Rena Hollander are working hard to get the city through the CoronaVirus crisis with as little damage as possible, and also to help as many people as possible, especially the elderly population, get through it as well.

There is constant encouragement to keep to the Ministry of Health guidelines, and city leadership is working closely with the Ministry of Health and security forces to keep the virus contained and slow the spread as much as possible. The City also sends out a car blasting music with a singer, every day to the streets of a different neighborhood, to bring some cheer and fun to the residents, who are encouraged to sing along and dance on their porches.

But specifically, the city is working hard to support and take care of the elderly. The elderly are encouraged to stay indoors and avail themselves of other people's assistance to do anything that is needed outside the home, such as shopping and whatever. The city made a list of elderly residents and said - we will deliver meals to your door every day so you do not have to go outside and buy food. I registered my parents for this, and they got the meals delivered to their door.

they set up a war room in the RBS Sport Center to deal with the logistics of the meal delivery program, and in conjunction with various chessed organizations and flocks of volunteers, they got it done.


The City of Bet Shemesh also sent out letters to residents letting them know that the city staff is available to assist them in whatever they need and they should not hesitate to call the municipal hotline in this challenging time.

Kudos to the city leadership for working hard to get its residents through this as well as possible!

אלף פעמים הסביר ראש העיר לשעבר ח"כ משה אבוטבול לביהמ"ש שאין סיכוי שהשלטים יוסרו מהעיר אתמול שוב המחזה המביש של רה"ע עליזה בלוך והמשטרה מנסים להסיר שלטים וברוח מכת הצפרדעים הקיצונים רק הרחיבו והוסיפו עוד ועוד שלטים חדשים.
מי מוכן להסביר לשופט חנן מלצר שאיים במאסר שמשה אבוטבול צדק? pic.twitter.com/7sOUvbTAsG

— איתי גדסי (@itayg1) February 12, 2020

The following event has been advertised around Bet Shemesh:



The event is a Thursday night Hannukah kumzitz in honor of Shabbat Hannukah in the Sport Center of RBS. The City of Bet Shemesh invites the residents of Bet Shemesh and Bnei Hayeshivot to the event, and a special gift will be distributed to Bnei Yehivot.  Speakers will include a rosh yeshiva (Rav Gavriel Yosef Levi) and a city councilman (Shmuel Greenberg) and singing will be lead by Avreimi Rot and Dudu Kalish with choirs and a band. The event is Thursday night of Hannukah from 7pm until 11pm (doors open at 6:30pm), entry is free but no kids due to limited space available.

Interestingly, the sign is signed off by two city councilmen who are named as Rav Chaim Zamora and Rav Shlomo Brilant (both from UTJ), and the mayor, Aliza Bloch, who is left unnamed.

The fact that her picture has been left off a sign published by the Iryah for an event sponsored by the Iryah is somewhat understandable, despite it being strange, and she has already explained it away on a number of occasions, especially after the mayoral elections in which she posted signs in haredi areas without her image. Leaving her name off when every other person involved is named is just strange and demeaning, as if she does not deserve to exist.

The other interesting part about this is that while I would think such an event, targeting primarily the Bnei Yeshivot, would be open to men only, or at least with strict separate seating, the sign announces the invitation to the residents of Bet Shemesh and the Bnei Yeshivot, with no distinction of gender and no notice of separate seating. Historically that is unusual. I would suspect that they did this out of fear of the event being cancelled, as a number of similar events around the country recently were after protests were filed with the courts for discriminating on the public dime. If so, those court cases accomplished what they set out to do.

On the other hand, this event could easily be explained as a religious event that qualifies for such gender separation, as it is billed as a shabbos hannukah event praising God for the miracles and honoring Shabbos and those who study about the holiness of Shabbos - the courts did say events that are religious in nature could qualify for exceptions.

So, with the event not being separate seating or men only, just go enjoy! Party on!