Families with young children and luggage forced to walk into Beitar Illit after city gate closed 20 minutes before Shkiya

 

This is what happens when you have Chareidim run cities! 

n Bnei-Brak rats rule, and the city is filthy, in Beit Shemesh, developers build without caring if there is infrastructure in place causing chaos. Beitar Illit has been rated as the worst as far as poverty is concerned!

The gerer chusid who gave the fatwa stands there without a care in the world!

זו תורה וזו שכרה

Dozens of people, including families with children, found themselves stuck outside the city of Beitar Illit on Friday after the gate to the city closed 20 minutes before sunset.

Footage obtained by Arutz Sheva shows around twenty vehicles standing at the entrance to the city, with the gate closed and entry not permitted. The footage was taken after the start of Shabbat but before sunset —when one may only carry out prohibited activities if left no choice.

Further in the footage, parents, children, and babies with strollers and luggage are seen walking toward the city. Some had to carry heavy packages for hundreds of yards, if not further, turning their arrival to Beitar Illit into an exhausting march.

An Arutz Sheva inquiry found that this is an old policy, stating that the gates to the city close on Friday from 20 minutes before sunset. The municipality explains that the decision was made by the city's rabbis.

Maor Ktuvim, who filmed the footage, described to Arutz Sheva how dozens of people were forced to take the exhausting walk. He noted that the area is dangerous, causing the people to be afraid to leave their cars on the side of the road.

He recounted how last Friday, an accident on the road leading from Jerusalem to the city caused many to arrive late.

As a result, many visitors had to leave their cars at the entrance to the city and walk to their destinations.

While the municipality apparently relies on the sign at the entrance to the city that states that there is no entry on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, residents complained in a conversation with Arutz Sheva that there is a need to consider the access roads and allow those arriving to enter the city until sunset.

It is worth noting that several years ago, a court acquitted a driver who had received a ticket for driving on Friday evening after the start of Shabbat in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter, ruling that the legislature had not defined the term “Shabbat.”

According to the judge, “The message conveyed by the road sign is not sufficiently clear, raising doubt regarding the defendant’s guilt. I believe the phrase ‘Shabbatot and holidays’ is ambiguous and allows for more than one interpretation, thereby creating reasonable doubt in favor of the defendant.”