Member of Knesset Dov Khenin (Joint List) joined ḥaredi lawmakers on Monday in condemning the central Israeli town of Givat Shmuel for imposing a thinly veiled ban on ḥaredi visitors.
The ḥaredi Kikar HaShabbat newspaper reported on Sunday that the Givat Shmuel municipality had imposed a temporary ban on non-residents, barring them from visiting local parks during certain peak hours.
Critics claim that the move is intended specifically to bar ḥaredi residents of the nearby city of Bnei Brak.
According to the Givat Shmuel municipality, however, the temporary ban is only enforced between the hours of 16:00 and 22:00, and is only expected to last three weeks.
The municipality said in a statement that during those hours, special events for residents are held in the parks. The city denied the ban was intended to single out any specific group or population.
“We are not closing the park to Bnei Brak residents but to anyone who is not a resident of Givat Shmuel,” a city official told Kikar HaShabbat.
“The park will also be closed to residents of Tel Aviv and Kiryat Ono. Apart from this, we are talking about a few weeks in which during the afternoon the park will be closed to residents of other cities because there will be activities especially for the residents of Givat Shmuel.”
Nevertheless, the move drew criticism from some city officials in Bnei Brak, as well as ḥaredi lawmakers, who on Sunday called on the Knesset to take up the issue.
Khenin, the sole Jewish representative of the predominantly Palestinian Joint List, is a long-time member of Maki (Israel’s Communist Party), which is part of the Ḥadash party. Ḥadash is one of four parties comprising the Joint List Knesset faction.
Khenin attacked the Givat Shmuel municipality, arguing that the temporary ban was a clear case of discrimination, and demanded that the Knesset address the issue.
“Racism in Israeli society is a disease, and we must never accept it,” Khenin told Kikar HaShabbat. “Not when it is towards Arabs, not when it’s towards Ethiopians, and not when it is towards ḥaredim. If we let it continue unchecked, it will consume us all.”
“A park is a public space which belongs to everyone.,” he added. “We cannot bar any group from it.”
This, Khenin noted, was not the first time he had worked closely with ḥaredi lawmakers on this issue.
“I started working with [United Torah Judaism MK Moshe] Gafni as soon as I was elected to the Knesset. Already then we worked together to pass a bill banning discrimination at public parks. I will continue with this until we have defeated this phenomenon everywhere.”
