Police officers in Jerusalem have been renovating a kindergarten located in the heart of Meah Shearim, a neighborhood that has historically been a bastion of anti-police sentiment.
Police from the Jerusalem District have spent the past week painting, sanding, and refurbishing the kindergarten after they noticed its poor and run-down condition. Different police officers would arrive each morning and spend the day doing renovation work, and the previously dilapidated children's center is now unrecognizable.
"It is tremendously satisfying to know that these children will come to a new and restored kindergarten" said a police officer who assisted in the effort. "It is important for us to strengthen our connection with the hareidi community."
The Meah Shearim neighborhood has seen some of Israel's most violent clashes between hareidi Jews and police. Dozens of extremists had rioted in early August following a visit of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu).
Police special forces in June were urgently dispatched to the community after police detectives collecting evidence against anti-Zionist radicals suspected of attacking haredi soldiers were themselves attacked in an incident that escalated quickly into a full-fledged riot.