Sovereignty or politics? Beitar Illit Mayor Meir Rubenstein is calling out the bill proposed by Yisrael Beytenu Faction Chairman MK Oded Forer to apply Israeli sovereignty in the city.
In response to Forer's request for his support in enlisting votes for the bill, Rubenstein sent a strongly worded letter in which he calls the bill a populist move.
Rubenstein wrote that over the decades in office, he never received any support from Forer or assistance for the city's needs or the haredi community.
"Why is it that, during the years that your party was in the coalition, I never hear about any bills that you proposed to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria or in Beitar Illit? Were you afraid of your coalition partners at the time, including the United Arab List and Mansour Abbas, and now you are trying to troll the right-wing government on our backs?" Rubenstein pondered and added, "As one who proposed a bill to deny the haredi community the right to vote, I can only wonder if you want to apply sovereignty on our city so that your bill would go into effect and deny us the right to vote."
Rubinstein explicitly demanded that MK Oded Forer commit that, should the bill fail to pass, it would become a threshold demand for any future coalition. “If you commit to this in writing, we will see the sincerity of your words,” the mayor concluded.