Residents Challenge Beit Shemesh City Council Over Gender-Separated Pool Policy in Neve Shamir

Residents of the Neve Shamir neighborhood in Beit Shemesh have filed a petition against the city council's decision to operate the new municipal country club pool with full gender segregation and no family swim hours. The petitioners argue that this policy contradicts the neighborhood's original designation as a mixed community and harms the general public residents. The city council issued a tender specifying that the pool would be fully separated by gender at all times, rejecting requests to allocate half the hours for family swimming.

Neve Shamir (Ramat Beit Shemesh E) was established under former Mayor Dr. Aliza Bloch's leadership to diversify the city's population by attracting families from the general public alongside the existing Haredi neighborhoods. The neighborhood was planned as a general community, unlike Ramat Beit Shemesh D, which is primarily Haredi. The city’s legal advisor responded that the pool’s location in Neve Shamir does not obligate it to serve only local residents and that many Haredi residents would avoid the facility if mixed-gender swim hours were offered, justifying full segregation.

The petition, submitted by attorneys Idan, Regev, and Eli Botbol, demands the cancellation of the tender's segregation condition and the introduction of family swim hours for those opposed to segregation. They claim the city encouraged general public families to move to Neve Shamir with promises of public services compatible with their lifestyle, and the current policy violates equality principles. Legal correspondent Avishai Grinzig noted that while he personally prefers gender-segregated swimming, imposing this lifestyle on all residents without flexibility is unreasonable and risks community conflict. The Beit Shemesh municipality has not yet responded to the petition.