Removing the signs early on Thursday morning
Removing the signs early on Thursday morningBeit Shemesh municipality

The Beit Shemesh municipality during the early hours of Thursday morning attempted again to remove the city's "modesty signs," in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling.

On Monday, the began removing the "modesty" signs put up by stringently haredi elements in the city, but was forced to contend with extremists who opposed the move. During the operation, the municipality succeeded in removing six of the eight modesty signs, but extremists immediately began working to replace them.

Like Monday's attempt, Thursday's operation was done in conjunction with Israel Police. Despite the early hour, some of the signs were replaced as soon as they were removed.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul requested on Monday that the Supreme Court remove the municipality from the issue, since several attempts to remove the signs have been made, but it is not feasible to remove them every day, especially since the costs of doing so are high.

At the same time, he called on Israel Police to enforce public order and the court ruling. According to him, such enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the police, who have the necessary operational abilities and act to enforce the law in other areas as well.

Last week, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the signs' removal, following a 2015 ruling that the signs "cause serious harm to human dignity, equality, personal choice and autonomy."