The Jerusalem Municipality on Sunday on announced that it would halt providing special security for a school in the French Hill neighborhood. To the chagrin of parents, students from the “Tzviya Creative” school in the neighborhood will walk to and from bus stops without security protection.
Parents are up in arms, demanding that the municipality reverse its decision. If they refuse to do so, the parents say, they will keep their kids home from school.
As a neighborhood on the outskirts of large Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, French Hill has in recent years become a target for Arab thugs bent on sowing fear in the hearts of Jewish residents of Jerusalem.
The neighborhood has been the target of numerous terror attacks and many attempted attacks over the years. Just last week, an Arab woman tried to stab a border police officer just 200 meters from the Hebrew University campus, adjacent to the neighborhood.
In addition, many residents have reported being intimidated, robbed, and beaten by Arabs, to the extent that last month police announced they would implement special patrols in the neighborhood.
The municipality said that it was the Education Ministry's role to provide security for schools, but parents were not accepting that as an excuse.
“We will not endanger our children because of arguments between the municipality and the ministry,” they said. “Arab terrorists have free rein in this neighborhood, and security is absolutely necessary. We will have no hesitation closing the school,” the parents said.