remember all the fights in Modiin about whether non-city-residents, a.k.a "haredim from modiin ilit", would be allowed to enter and enjoy Park Anabe for free or if they would be charged a fee?
In the end Modiin resolved the issue by keeping it free for everyone. Problem solved. Or maybe it was just problem moved.
All is good in Modiin, but now Givat Shmuel is trying something similar.
According to Kikar, residents of Bnei Braq, read: haredim, went over to the neighboring town of Givat Shmuel to enjoy the park and sports facility there. While entry is supposed to be free, it turns out all the Haredi visitors were stopped at the entrance and required to pay 30nis per person.
Summer activitiess are expensive, but when you go to something and expect it to be free, being charged full price, per person for a large family, it can be a big hit to the pocketbook.
Some paid, some didn't, some got upset, some protested, some threatened. At the end of the day, the guards at the entrance insisted on all the visitors from out of the city, a.k.a. haredim from Bnei Braq, pay the entrance fee.
The fight is the same - the Haredim from Bnei Braq say it is discrimination, charging haredim money while letting in people with knitted kippot for free, ignoring the issue of where one lives and where one pays taxes. The poritz, the local ruler who decides who to make and who to break, says it is free for locals, no matter what color kippa, because they pay local taxes, and it costs money for people from elsewhere, no matter the kippa color. It just happens to be most visitors are from Bnei Braq, but nothing personal against Bnei Braq or Haredim. And of course there is always someone who adds that during vacation periods the haredim come in mass numbers, making the locals who pay for it feel uncomfortable or they cant enjoy it at all, and leave a big mess. Those filthy Haredim.
So which is it and what will be?
For now, the fee is in place, but my guess is that soon it will be canceled, after a bit of fighting. That's the way it happens, because that is the law. It happened in Ranana, it happened in Modiin, and it will probably happen in Givat Shmuel.
Whatever happens though, perhaps it is time for the Haredi cities to be building some of their own "attractions". Build a nice park and sports facility in Bnei Braq and Modiin Ilit. If it was really so bad, they would be banning these places during vacations rather than fighting for them to be free. The city could charge people from the outside and make some income off it, and do something nice with a controlled environment for their own residents (so they dont have to see the pritzus in other non-haredi cities)... but they wont do it.
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