From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Haredi extremists attack Beit Shemesh mayor and his family, injuring one of his kids
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Ultra-Orthodox extremists attack Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg and his family, overturning the mayor’s car and injuring one of his children.
In a statement, the municipality says that Greenberg, a member of the Haredi Degel Hatorah party, “was attacked by extremists while leaving a family celebration.”
“His vehicle was smashed and vandalized, but the mayor and his family were rescued from the scene. The mayor’s son required medical treatment. Mayor Greenberg trusts the Israel Police to bring the lawbreakers to justice,” his office says.
הזוי: קבוצת קיצונים יצרה הערב אנרכיה ברחובות בית שמש, כאשר במהלך מחאה סוערת הפכו את רכבו של ראש העיר. תושבים מזועזעים מתיעוד האירוע וקוראים למשטרה לפעול ביד קשה נגד המתפרעים ולעצור את המעורבים.
???? צילום: הפרגוד מקומי בית שמש pic.twitter.com/Rp1m91DPqz— ישראל כהן (@Israelcohen911) March 19, 2025
Video from the scene shows black-clad Hasidic Jews rocking the vehicle back and forth while someone screams in the background. Another clip shows the mayor, wearing a helmet, being rushed out of a building by armored police as a baying mob screaming “Nazi” chases him. He is then placed in another car and rushed from the scene.
Dramatic footage of Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg being rescued by police from an ultra-Orthodox mob screaming "Nazi" at him this evening. The mayor's car was overturned pic.twitter.com/761DW7K4KF
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) March 19, 2025
The incident was far from the first mob attack against a mayor of Beit Shemesh.
In August 2023, in the second attack against in less than two months, dozens of extremists rioted outside a local school while then-mayor Aliza Bloch was touring the building, hurling objects, starting a fire and vandalizing 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.
The Times of Israel Community.