Police Breach Welded School Gate in Bnei Brak Amid Tensions
Students and staff at the "Afikim" state-religious school in Bnei Brak arrived for classes on Monday to find the main entrance gate welded shut. Police were called to the scene and used a cutting disc to breach the gate, allowing access to the school.
The incident is the latest in a series of alleged harassments faced by the school, which educates boys and girls together. Parents claim these actions are motivated by the school's status as a state-religious institution with a mixed-gender student body.
Parents described the morning's events as a new peak in the alleged harassment, with children and parents waiting outside the locked school. One parent recounted, "We arrived in the morning and discovered someone had welded the lock." Another teacher stated, "She locked all the gates, to show us that we have no place." The school's rear gate was also reportedly locked, and its use is restricted by the Ministry of Education due to an unapproved entrance.
The Bnei Brak municipality denied any involvement in locking or welding the gate, attributing the act to an "extreme neighbor." A spokesperson stated that the municipality had designated separate entrances for various educational institutions within the complex and that the school administration was supposed to use its assigned gate but chose another. The municipality urged the school's management to act responsibly and called for all parties to respect existing arrangements to maintain peace.
The municipality also refuted claims of discrimination, asserting that significant investments were made in providing a dedicated building and adapting the current premises for the "Afikim" school. They called the parents' allegations "baseless" and "completely contrary to reality."
