Infiltrators in Bnei Brak
Photo: Amir Levy
Bnei Brak rabbis form plan of action against infiltrators
Emergency meeting held in religious city agrees that succession of steps be taken in order to handle infiltrator problem in light of recent violence
The perfusion of infiltrator and refugee residents in Bnei Brak has led rabbis to seek out a solution. At an emergency meeting held in the religious city on Saturday night it was agreed that a succession of steps would be taken in order to handle the situation.
Among them was a proposal to examine the possibility of informing against employers who choose to employ the illegal immigrants to the Tax Authority and law enforcement officials.
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Taking part in the meeting were rabbis representing various haredi groups, a city councilman and other public activists. They described a grim picture and reported a surge in crime and concerns for "sexual lawlessness."
This is not the first meeting where rabbis and public activists are joining forces in a bid to deal with local residents' distress, but this time they came out of the meeting with a formulated plan of action.
According to the plan, which will be brought before residents for approval at a future meeting, a "patrol" will be set up in order to prevent theft, harassment and abuse from the infiltrators, especially towards women, young girls and children.
The "patrol" will be manned by volunteers from the neighborhood. "Each rabbi will ask members of his community to join in while (telling them) to increase awareness to their surroundings and report any suspicious activity to the volunteers," the meeting summary read.
Another option on the table was to work with the municipality – handing them information against people who split their apartments up to fit in with the illegals' needs as well as to maximize rental profits in addition to working on a political level to have the municipality halt the employment of illegals.
They further proposed to "establish a special rabbinical court made up of the neighborhood rabbis who would alert those who rent out their apartments to them (infiltrators) and imposing a boycott on those who refuse to fulfill the rabbinical court's ruling."
The rabbinical body would then rule that residents can alert the tax authority on any illegal activity.
Local residents have claimed that women are scared of leaving their homes and taking their children to the parks in the afternoon as "the infiltrators have taken them over and scare them."
