Israeli Arabs planning ‘day of rage’ protests against demolition of Bedouin town for Jewish one
New protests planned prompted by Supreme Court’s ruling allowing state to demolish Umm al-Hiran in the northern Negev.
By Shirly Seidler and Jack Khoury | May 7, 2015 | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.655295
Mayor orders Arabs stop working in Ashkelon schools -
Says order is a part of an effort to make parents feel safe in light of recent attacks in Jerusalem.
By Shirly Seidler | Nov. 20, 2014 |Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.627441
Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni ordered Thursday that Arabs be prevented from working in the city’s schools and kindergartens during school hours. Shimoni said his move was prompted by pressure from parents fearing a terror attack.
Shimoni said that as of Thursday armed guards will be posted at the entrance to seven kindergarten complexes accommodating more than 100 children. The money for the security guards, estimated in the tens of thousands of shekels, was partly donated from abroad, it was revealed.
Shimoni wrote on his Facebook page: “Although the Public Security Ministry is responsible for placing security guards, I’ve instructed putting armed guards in every kindergarten complex close to construction sites in which Arabs are employed. Also, in kindergartens where protected rooms are being built by Arab workers, the work will be stopped until further notice.”
A municipality official said the directives were not to stay in effect “until further notice” but until “things calm down,” due to the tension among parents after the recent terror attack in Jerusalem.
The city’s security director, Effie Mor, said parents who felt their children were unprotected had approached the mayor and himself.
“We discussed the situation with all the relevant city officials and especially the tension among the residents. We’ve received many calls from mothers afraid for their children, saying they saw a suspicious person near the kindergarten, or reports of workers in construction sites,” he said.
“Because of the tension we decided to create a few days of respite for the residents, so they can have some quiet and feel safe over the next few days,” he said.
Residents collected signatures in several kindergartens Wednesday for a petition urging the mayor to post armed guards at schools. The mayor had said he would have “security forces” patrol the schools, but the parents said patrols are not enough and insisted on posting a security guard at every kindergarten.
MK Issawi Freij (Meretz) called on the mayor to retract his decision, which he called “racist.”
“Shimoni’s decision to stop Israeli Arabs from working in Ashkelon is the worst kind of racism. Using the shabby excuse of ’sense of security,’ Shimoni wants to purge Ashkelon of Arabs and pollute it with anti-Semitic racism. I call on Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and the chairman of the Local Authorities Union to denounce Shimoni and insist he retract his decision,” Freij said.