Bnei Brak Residents Block Demolition of Unauthorized Disabled Man’s Room

A planned demolition in Bnei Brak was halted on Tuesday after hundreds of residents gathered on Ahavat Shalom Street in the Vizhnitz neighborhood to block municipal inspectors from carrying it out. The order targeted a room added to an apartment for a disabled resident, which city officials said had been built without a permit.

According to the report, residents began assembling early in the morning, waiting for Bnei Brak municipal building inspectors who were supposed to arrive and enforce the demolition order. The apartment owner had already appealed publicly for help, hanging signs on the walls and urging neighbors to stand with him and prevent what he described as “extortion.” He said he had repeatedly asked the city for building approvals for the apartment he needs for personal use, but was ignored. “All the doors were closed to me, they did not listen to me and my appeals fell on deaf ears. I invested money and blood here,” he said, adding that he had always been willing, and still is willing, to legalize the construction.

Residents and volunteers responded to his call by organizing a blocking effort. Vehicles were placed in the street as early as the night before to stop bulldozers from reaching the site, and from before dawn hundreds of people stood guard in shifts. In the end, the protest succeeded and the demolition was canceled for now.

A municipal source sharply rejected the protest, calling the claim that the city was targeting a disabled person “a cynical manipulation meant to evoke false sympathy and cover up blatant building violations.” The official said the facts were simple, that an entire apartment and a mikveh were built illegally and without any permit, on shared property, prompting urgent complaints from neighboring residents. Instead of legalizing the violations, the source said, those involved tried to turn the public against the city with “crocodile tears.”