The Jerusalem Municipality transferred approximately NIS 1.2 million in the last four months to finance sports days for the ultra-Orthodox community in Hami Geash.
This became clear at the council meeting chaired by Mayor Moshe Leon that took place last week when it was brought to the attention of the council members an expenditure of NIS 600,000 for the purpose of "buying a sports service for a healthy lifestyle for the ultra-Orthodox public".
The explanation reads: "The ultra-orthodox sports department is preparing to provide sports and health services for women in Hami Geash. The events will include fitness and sports activities, swimming and water activities."
600,000 shekels for "buying a sports service for a healthy lifestyle for the ultra-Orthodox public" (photo: official website, no)
An investigation by the Utkerot movement shows that this is the fourth time in the last four months that the municipality is asking to approve hundreds of thousands of shekels for "sports days" for the ultra-orthodox sector in Hami Geash.
The budgets, amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels each time, are transferred to the community managers of Mount Nof and Ramat Shlomo, through which the sports days for men and women are implemented separately.
In total, council members have so far approved more than NIS 1.2 million for the sports days.
The chairman of the opposition in the municipality, Adir Schwartz, who serves as the chairman of the Awakening movement, asked for more details about the budget requests and the content of the fun and sports days, and also asked how many residents have gone to the fun days so far and why the money was allocated only to the ultra-orthodox public and the events were held outside the city.
However, Mayor Moshe Leon ignored his requests and continued with the council meeting.
"In a city with the most expensive property tax in the country, the mayor chooses to spend millions on sports days for only one sector and outside the city," accused Schwartz.
"Instead of investing the money for the residents of the city in general, in employment, housing or education, the municipality chooses to discriminate grossly and at the same time weaken the local businesses that need these budgets like air to breathe."
The Jerusalem Municipality stated: "This is a fitness and health sports activity in the hot springs, adapted to the ultra-Orthodox sector. A similar activity was also carried out in previous years, and this is the only mass sports event offered to the ultra-Orthodox sector. The activity was approved according to the procedures of the Works Delivery Committee and the City Council. The Municipality of Jerusalem operates and supports sports activities and
events and many and varied health throughout the year and for all sectors in the city."
More in Walla!
She beat, stepped on and pinched: Kindergarten teacher Ilana Suisa from Sderot is accused of hundreds of cases of child abuse
A miracle on Purim: a 53-year-old lost consciousness - and came back to life after 40 minutes of CPR
Saving from the first moment: how to start saving in four simple steps
news
News in Israel
Events in Israel
Tags
Jerusalem
Jerusalem city council
Moshe Leon
religious
The awakening of Jerusalem
Volcanic Hot Springs
