Tensions are running high between the secular residents and the Gur hasidic community in the southern city of Arad, following recent renovations made to the community center building and a public shelter in the city.
The latest incident occurred earlier this week when damage was caused to the community center building in the city. Mayor Yair Ma'ayan filed a police complaint and accused "a group of incited bullies filled with hatred" of vandalizing the renovations made at the site.
According to him, the renovations were done with the approval of the municipality and the community center, and were intended to house Gur hasidic preschool classes for a period of two to three months.
"This is a neglected room that had been closed for years," Ma'ayan said. "A complaint will be filed with the police against the perpetrators for vandalizing public property, breaking and entering, and trespassing. Those who choose the path of violence, in a criminal manner, will be dealt with severely by law enforcement."
The secular side's version of events is significantly different. Secular activists claimed that they had learned that renovations had been taking place at the community center for two weeks without public approval, with the intention of establishing two preschools for the Gur community.
"The workers reported that they were being paid in cash," Walla!, which first reported the case, quoted the activists as saying. The activists also called for the work to be stopped.
Ma'ayan reported another incident in which, according to him, secular activists entered a bomb shelter where Gur yeshiva students study "in the middle of the day and without a siren, stayed there for a long time, approached the yeshiva students, and entered their personal space in an attempt to create chaos."
One secular activist in the city dismissed the mayor's version, claiming that the events were a natural result of the municipality's policy. "The government in the city clearly represents the minority, thanks to which Yair Ma'ayan sits in the mayor's chair," he said. "Ma'ayan gives them properties, and the haredi atmosphere in the streets is felt like never before."