Haredi mob breaks into Beit Shemesh mayor’s home in second attack this year
Rioters break down gates, destroy electrical box seven months after overturning mayor's car; we 'will not give in to violence,' vows Shmuel Greenberg
The Beit Shemesh municipality on Thursday released footage of a mob attack on Mayor Shmuel Greenberg’s home, which took place last Wednesday evening, with dozens of ultra-Orthodox rioters breaking down the gates, throwing stones and causing damage to the house’s electrical system.
Greenberg and his family were not present during the attack, which took place during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday. In a statement accompanying the footage released on Thursday, the municipality said that dozens of rioters broke the electrical cabinet and security cameras and used iron rods to damage the mayor’s sukkah.
“This is a brutal, boundless act that has nothing to do with public protest but with violence for its own sake,” Greenberg, a member of the Haredi Degel Hatorah party, said in a statement. “We will not be deterred by threats and will not give in to violence. We will continue to manage the city responsibly, with determination and great love for its residents. Violence will not win.”
This is the second attack against the mayor and his property by Haredi extremists in less than a year.
In March, extremists attacked Greenberg and his family, overturning the mayor’s car and injuring his 19-year-old son.
The Haaretz daily linked the attack to the municipality’s recent demolition of a synagogue linked to an extremist sect that violated building codes.
March’s attack was condemned by President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition allies.
The attacks against Greenberg were far from the first mob assault against a mayor of Beit Shemesh.
In August 2023, dozens of extremists rioted outside a local school while then-mayor Aliza Bloch was touring the building. The rioters hurled objects, started a fire and vandalized her car — effectively holding her hostage for nearly two hours until she was rescued by police.
While violence has decreased significantly in recent years, extremists have long sought to forcibly impose their way of life on residents, posting modesty signs, tearing down Israeli flags and burning down a cellphone store in the moderate Haredi neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef last year.