A flyer was distributed throughout the city of Be'er Sheva, bearing a picture of the demonstrators who disrupted prayers on the last Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, with the headline: "Will it end with burning synagogues?! I swear – in Beersheba it won't happen!" The campaign is led by Be'er Sheva's Deputy Mayor Shimon Boker, who recently announced that he will run for the city council.
It seems that all means are legitimate. According to Booker, "they are capable of anything," he said, referring to opponents of the reform. In a conversation with Israel Hayom, he tried to explain how it would soon lead to the burning of synagogues.
When Boker was asked about the flyer and the handful who interrupted the prayers and whether he went too far regarding the fires, he did not hesitate and replied: "Of course, if you remember, they always said about the Bedouin that it was a handful, I always claimed that if you don't stop it here it will reach the whole country, protection and crime. There are things that need to be stopped," said the mayoral candidate.
"They don't see with their eyes, there are things that need to be stopped." Clashes at Dizengoff Square during Yom Kippur prayers, photo: Gideon Markowitz
"We know that Tel Aviv is a left-wing country, a right-wing person finds it hard to live here. But it comes to our house in Be'er Sheva, and the Israeli flag is lowered to half-mast (last March) at the municipal building. Arriving at the city council building, they shout and curse. A glass bottle was thrown into my yard."
Regarding the synagogue fires, Booker said he really believes it will happen: "It's a danger, they need to be stopped. I said this a year ago, when I didn't have a campaign. I said they were dangerous and should be thrown 'to Ketziot' and they were threatening to kill the prime minister. It's not a handful anymore."
Later in his remarks, he referred to the demonstrations against the legal reform. "All opponents of reform do not accept the election results. I'm not saying they're going to stop their lives now and start burning synagogues, but look, they don't see with their eyes, they're bad. I don't believe they are Jews anymore. Jews can't hate like that."
He also qualified: "It's clear to me that it's not everyone. It starts with a handful and we see that there is now a step up and I really believe that they can deteriorate to the point of burning down synagogues. One of these crazy people will come and make the first wave and you will see another synagogue burning, another sukkah burning. Yes in Beersheba in our city."
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