Tiberias Mayor Orders Garbage Collection In Chareidi Neighborhood On Shabbos

TIBERIAS (VosIzNeias) — Militantly anti-religious Tiberias mayor Ron Kobi continues his provocations against the Chareidi community despite the fact that, after failing six times to pass the city budget, he faces a hearing and dismissal immediately after the Sukkos festival. Kobi appealed his hearing in court, claiming that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who ordered the hearing, is in a conflict of interests due to his personal antipathy to Kobi, but the judges were unimpressed by his claims and stated that Deri acted in accordance with the law, which requires the establishment of an elected committee if the mayor cannot pass a budget and govern the city.

Apparently motivated by revenge, Kobi deliberately sent a garbage collection van this past Shabbos to the Kiryat Shmuel Chareidi neighborhood in order to collect garbage. The van was accompanied by a security guard assigned by the municipality. After an uproar ensued in the neighborhood, the garbage van left the scene, with the crew claiming that they had been ordered by the municipality to collect garbage there.

During the course of Shabbat Kobi posted a facebook status in which he declared that the garbage collection was at the initiative of the municipality, stating that “there are people who wish to hurt and harm the city, so we decided to show them.”

Kobi was referring to complaints by opposition councilors that he was not doing enough to clean up the city prior to the Sukkos holiday.