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Court Decision to Freeze the Beit Shemesh Tenders
The court issued an interim order regarding the petition of members of the opposition in Beit Shemesh and decided to freeze the tenders until the case is heard.
The petition, filed by opposition members along with coalition member Richard Peres (Labor), was filed against the Minister of Housing Rabbi Ariel Atias and Beit Shemesh Mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbul. In the petition they are demanding that the decision of the City Council to divide the neighborhood into a third chareidi, one-third Dati Leumi, and one-third secular must be reflected in the Government's tenders, and that the publicizing of tenders in the current format prevents other groups from participating in the auction, and benefits only the chareidi public.
The members of the Council, through Attorney Dafna Holtz-Lechner, claim in the petition that Atias and Abutbul flagrantly violate the decision of the City Council adopted with a clear majority of 14 in favor and only 3 opposed in the issue of tenders. "At the time of writing these lines, the tenders publicized stand in absolute contradiction to the terms set by the Beit Shemesh City Council as a condition for approval of the development agreements," read the petition. "In these serious circumstances, providing approval for further tender procedures in the way they have been publicized until now means an absolute destruction of the current pluralistic fabric between the different sectors in the city of Beit Shemesh.”
The petitioners further argued that if the court will not interfere this "will surely cause the city of Beit Shemesh to become clearly and obviously chareidi and for the residents who are not chareidi to depart, a far-reaching and fateful consequence which is not welcome for any of the sectors in the city.”
The tenders were supposed to close on Sunday, but due to the freeze declared by the court, the tenders will not close at this time. Will the judge accept the petitioners’ claim and invalidate the current tenders, or will the municipality, who approved the tenders, persuade with their arguments - and the plans will be carried out soon? It's too early yet to tell.
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