A Jewish woman from the Beit Orot neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem contacted Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Dov Kalmanovich and claimed that she was denied the right to vote because she is supposed to vote in a school located in the heart of an Arab neighborhood in the city.
"I am a resident of the Beit Orot neighborhood in East Jerusalem. I want to exercise my right to vote in the local elections for the Jerusalem municipality. After checking where the polling station at which I am to vote is located, I discovered that I was registered for voting at an Arab school in the A-Tur neighborhood," the Jewish woman wrote in a letter to Kalmanovich.
The resident warned that the entry of a Jewish woman into an Arab neighborhood and into an Arab school is a security threat. She further pointed out that she and other residents had asked the Interior Ministry to change the polling stations in which they are supposed to vote to ones that are located in a Jewish neighborhood.
"After I and other residents approached the Interior Ministry and the municipality...we were informed that it was not possible to change the location of the polling station. Our only option is to try to ask for a police escort. I protest the fact that my basic right to vote in the elections is revoked and that I do not have a normal and safe way, as any citizen does, to go to the polls and vote," the resident wrote.
Kalmanovich assured the woman that he would act to provide her with security. "It is inconceivable that a Jewish resident in the eastern part of the capital of the State of Israel will be afraid to vote. I call upon all the Jewish residents of eastern Jerusalem who are facing the same problem to turn to me and I will do my utmost to find a suitable and appropriate solution for them. Jerusalem is united in deeds and not in words," he said.