Rav Silman has reportedly instructed the Haredi community to not rent or sell property to a secular person in a Haredi area even if they would be willing to pay well above the regular market value. He said this would definitely be prohibited.
This caused a stir for obvious reasons. People call it racist, discriminatory, uppity, elitist, or any of many other bad attitudes.
Personally, I am not sure it is really an inappropriate attitude. At least not in Israel. While I am in favor of letting the market forces work and letting people buy wherever they want at the price they are willing to pay, and I don't consider mixed neighborhoods to be problematic, I do realize that this is not unusual in Israel. While cities are far more open, there are many communities that are not just open to the public. People cannot just get a home in a kibbutz, or a moshav, or even any of many yishuvim. There are acceptance committees, there are limitations and there are restrictions.
So, while Bnei Braq is a city and not a closed community, the Haredi community itself prefers to be insular and closed, and if others can do it, I would not accuse them of being horrible people because they also want to filter who can live among them.
That being said, I find it interesting, and a bit hypocritical, that Haredim can put forth efforts to move in and "haredize" secular neighborhoods, yet at the same time organize and talk about not letting any secular into haredi areas. If Haredim have no problem moving into Kiryat Hayovel, for example, they shouldn't have a problem with secular moving into Bnei Braq, for example. Not that I understand why any secular person would want to, but that is besides the point. And, if Haredim do move into secular neighborhoods and then demand allocation of all the normal resources and facilities, as is due them, and accuse those attempting to stop them of being anti-haredi, how can they then turn around and be anti-secular and stop the secular from going into Haredi neighborhoods and doing the same?
And the reverse is true as well. If the secular in Kryat Hayovel, for example, can legitimately work to prevent a Haredi influx of residents into the neighborhood and nobody cries boo about it, why can't the Haredim of Bnei Braq, for example, work to prevent an influx of secular residents? Yet when the Haredim do it, it upsets people.
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