Yisrael Beiteinu? No, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf on Monday morning asked Police Commissioner Dani Levi to investigate former Arad mayor Nissan Ben Hamo after Ben Hamo called for an “urban intifada” amid protests by Gur Hasidim over the arrest of a member of the community on suspicion of violence against his children.
The unrest began two days earlier, when Gur Hasidim held a protest prayer outside City Hall over the arrest. After the suspect was released, supporters organized a welcome event that caused major traffic jams at the city entrance, and clashes broke out between protesters and residents. In a video posted Monday night, Ben Hamo said, “There is no other way to describe what happened in the city except loss of control. When I said we needed to go out to an urban intifada, some were outraged, that is what it means!” He added, “If we do not stand on our hind legs, we will get this dozens of times more.”
Ben Hamo also praised Arad resident Sivan Cohen Avitan, who confronted the Gur Hasidim with a megaphone and shouted against protesting on behalf of a suspect in violence against his children. Goldknopf wrote that Ben Hamo was “calling on the city’s residents to go out to an urban intifada against the city’s Haredi residents,” and said the word “intifada” carries a national memory of blood, terror and severe violence, making it not legitimate criticism but “a direct call for violent acts, public disorder and endangering human life.”
Ben Hamo responded that Goldknopf, a former senior minister, was showing “double standards,” citing the weekend of “five freed for publication” incidents, his support for demonstrations against military conscription and for the “rescue” of a draft evader held in Prison 10, and a later illegal protest in Arad. He said that during that protest, secular residents were badly beaten and property and vehicles were damaged, and that Goldknopf, who leads “the community of draft evaders during wartime,” has no standing to lecture about incitement or law and order.
Arad’s current mayor, Yair Maayan, defended the Gur Hasidim’s right to demonstrate, writing that every person has the right to protest and that this applies to all Israeli citizens and Arad residents, including the Haredim. He said discrimination against Arad residents on religious or racist grounds has ended and that all residents are equal. Ben Hamo, who had previously warned against Maayan’s election, said after losing the race that “the secular lighthouse went out,” and has repeatedly warned that the city is becoming more Haredi.
