Elad is a community fairly similar to RBS, though without the "Anglo"population. It is a community that was supposed to originally be fairly mixed between the different sectors, but has turned out to be largely Haredi, with a smaller Dati Leumi community remaining.
There has been a fight going on in Elad abut a Dati Leumi ulpana. The mayor designated a building for the Ulpana that is located not in the Dati Leumi part of town, but in a Haredi neighborhood. The Haredim want the school relocated, claiming tzniyus issues.
So, unfortunately, it is not just in Bet Shemesh that such fights happen between communities. However, further with the "unfortunately", Bet Shemesh has become the model, not for coexistence, but for the fighting.
In Elad people involved in the fighting of the allocation for the Ulpana are saying that if the mayor does not retract the allocation - they will turn Elad into "Bet Shemesh 2"..
Another quote from Elad is from "Yisrael", who said "we are ready for anything. we will make their lives bitter. there are spitters here in Elad as well. We will do everything possible that will prevent them from coming here. Everything. From my perspective, Elad can become Bet Shemesh 2.
source: Ynet
I must say, the sequel is almost never as good as the original.
And people should aspire to copy and imitate the good things from other places, not the bad things...
It is really a shame. I was in Elad recently, when Gilad Sha'ar, Eyal Yifrach, and Naftali Frankel were still missing. Eyal Yifrach was from Elad, from the Dati Leumi community of Elad. This became the beginning of a period of tremendous unity (whatever unity means, that was the word used), as fights were put aside, communities came together and ignored their differences, and communities supported others they are usually, or often enough, at odds with. I was in Elad, and I saw the Haredi community doing everything possible to support the Yifrachs and work for Eyal's release - mostly through prayer, as that is the tool in their wheelhouse, but they also worked to support the family and strengthen their morale.
What happened to that unity? Was it so fragile that it could so quickly turn around in such an extreme fashion, that a Dati Leumi school is such a threat to the much larger haredi community? Suddenly they are back to being so bad that we will have to become "Bet Shemesh 2" to chase them out?
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