Cities in Israel are changing radically: 'The neighborhood will become fully ultra-Orthodox'

Jerusalem on a Saturday, about an hour before the end of Shabbat. Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews block buses arriving in the capital from northern Israel with metal barriers — a routine move, part of the long-standing status quo. Hours earlier, protests at Cafe Basimta, and far away, in another city — Safed — clashes over operating buses for soldiers and civilians. The night before, metal barriers were placed at the entrance to a mixed neighborhood in Bnei Brak, where secular and ultra-Orthodox residents live side by side. Within 24 hours, ultra-Orthodox activists tried to change long-standing arrangements in the name of Shabbat, with complete disregard for the wishes of others. And some people have simply had enough. 'Go live in Ramat Aviv for 5,200 shekels' Friday evening, as Shabbat begins. Bnei Brak police are called by secular residents of the Writers’ Compound neighborhood, also known as Ayelet HaShahar, after construction waste containers are used to block the neighborhood’s main access road. Police arrive and remove the containers from the middle of the road, reopening the bridge. The truck driver who placed the construction waste containers is summoned for questioning. According to a police source, he said he had been hired by someone at the Bnei Brak municipality and believed everything was legal and authorized. Saturday morning, 10:30 a.m. An ultra-Orthodox man wrapped in a prayer shawl returns from morning prayers, walking from Bnei Brak’s Pardes Katz neighborhood toward the Landa Bridge, which leads into the Writers’ Compound. Then he mutters toward a car standing at the side of the road: “You’re not allowed to drive here on Shabbat.” At the start of the bridge, he passes a sign mounted on a pole reading: “No entry on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.” On the bridge, three containers stand beside the curb, evidence of their placement at the start of Shabbat in an effort to physically block vehicles from entering the neighborhood. The Writers’ Compound is bordered by Ayalon Mall to the west and Highway 4 to the east. It was built as part of Israel’s Buyer’s Price housing program where at bargain prices young secular and ultra-Orthodox couples won apartments and found themselves living side by side. The ultra-Orthodox are the majority in the neighborhood, which does not look especially fresh or clean despite only beginning to be populated in 2024. About 200 meters into Lehi Street, which runs through the neighborhood, piles of cardboard waste near a synagogue block the road. In the opposite lane, there are metal barriers. Although police had already been called to remove the containers that had illegally blocked the neighborhood’s roads, secular residents woke Saturday morning to find makeshift barriers once again blocking traffic. Men wrapped in prayer shawls stood on the sidewalk near the barriers. “We are brothers, and even brothers sometimes argue. It will be OK in the end,” one said of the friction that has developed in recent weeks over driving on Shabbat in the neighborhood streets. The containers, it seems, were the last straw. Two weeks earlier, ultra-Orthodox residents blocked the entrance with barriers, which were later removed by police. “Living together as neighbors has created friction over Shabbat. Each side wants to preserve its way of life,” a police source told ynet. “This is not an issue for the police. They should go to court and let the court decide.” City council member Yaakov Vider of the Likud Party believes the friction suits the municipality. “It is leaving the arena to the street and to improvised roadblocks, without any discussion at all. It suits them for public attention to focus on Shabbat wars instead of the collapse of the municipality, with debts of millions. To this day, there has been no orderly city council discussion on the issue. The municipality has a duty to listen to the needs of both secular and ultra-Orthodox residents and make a decision. My concern is that extremists from both sides will enter the struggle over Shabbat in the Writers’ Compound and escalate the situation,” he told ynet. One neighborhood resident, who defines himself as secular, rented an apartment there in June 2025. “The owner is secular and told me this was a mixed neighborhood. About a month ago, the incidents over driving on Shabbat began. Now they have gone even further and blocked the bridge with containers. This is already beyond a desire to block driving on an internal road in the neighborhood that passes synagogues. This is already a desire to block the entire neighborhood,” he said. So why not leave? “I rent a new three-room apartment here in central Israel for 5,200 shekels. For that amount, I used to live in an apartment that was literally falling apart,” he explained, before adding sarcastically: “The ultra-Orthodox shout, ‘Go live in Ramat Aviv.’ I’m willing to, if they make up the difference needed to rent an apartment in Ramat Aviv.” The resident refuses to accept the new ultra-Orthodox demand. “I can’t park outside the neighborhood and walk in. That’s not reasonable. And besides, I have an electric car with a charging station in my building’s parking lot,” he said. In his view, the struggle over public space in the Writers’ Compound is only beginning and “will intensify.” Several days later, we returned to the neighborhood on a weekday afternoon. No secular residents were visible in the streets. “Of course, there are only ultra-Orthodox people on the street, because secular residents are at work in the afternoon,” said one secular resident, 45, sarcastically. He rented a 4.5-room apartment there three years ago for just 6,000 shekels. “For the first two years, while the neighborhood was still under construction, everything was fine,” he said. “There were secular residents, ultra-Orthodox residents and religious Zionists, and we respected one another. Now suddenly the Bnei Brak municipality has placed containers on the bridge leading into the neighborhood, and I’m worried about the coming Saturdays.” Residents allege neglect: They say the municipality does not provide services in the neighborhood, and every tent erected in public space eventually becomes a temporary structure for kollels and synagogues. “There is no law and order,” the secular resident said. “There was a status quo allowing driving on Shabbat in the section between the synagogues and kollels, but now they want to close the entire neighborhood to us — and it should be remembered that it was marketed under Buyer’s Price to the general public.” He asked to remain anonymous. “They already punctured one of my tires once. I expect the police to enforce the law,” he told ynet. Opposite a cluster of synagogues stands Shlomi, an ultra-Orthodox-looking man waiting for transportation to bring his son home from school. “In our Breslov community, the rabbi says not to get involved. What the ultra-Orthodox extremists are doing by blocking roads is wrong. This will only push our secular neighbors away. It hurts me to see people driving on Shabbat, but I have no right to force anything on them. I have secular brothers, and I would not want them treated this way,” Shlomi asserted. Inside a kollel housed in a makeshift structure in the middle of Lehi Street, Dvir sits immersed in a page of Gemara, jotting notes in a small notebook. “It hurts to see cars driving on the road across from us while we are in the middle of prayer on Shabbat,” he said, stressing: “But I’m not in favor of wars. Extremists from both sides are coming in here. “In my opinion, time will do its work, and the neighborhood will become fully ultra-Orthodox. The secular residents will leave even though they are trying to fight. After all, these are attractively priced apartments right in the heart of Gush Dan, but they won’t be able to keep fighting in order to live according to their beliefs,” according to Dvir. Posters plastered around the neighborhood proclaim a religious ruling stating that “it is strictly forbidden to rent apartments in the neighborhood to people who are not ultra-Orthodox.” One poster reads: “Everyone has an obligation to protest against anyone who breaches this barrier, because our very lives depend on it. There is no need to fear the prohibition against humiliating others and the like, and in this merit we will ensure that the place develops in Torah, holiness and the presence of the Divine.” Another poster condemns the “phenomenon of secular tourists” who behave “in a manner inconsistent with our way of life, in immodest clothing.” “Why are there areas in this country where I am not allowed to live?” another secular resident protested. “The ultra-Orthodox knew they were going to live in a mixed neighborhood, and now they want to take over the public space. It is time for us to fight for our right to live according to our values, and for the ultra-Orthodox to learn to respect their secular neighbors.” The Bnei Brak municipality said in response: “The Writers’ Compound is a neighborhood whose overwhelming majority consists of Shabbat-observant residents who wish to preserve the neighborhood’s character on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. “To that end, the municipal traffic committee approved the closure of Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Bridge on Shabbat, while leaving an open entrance and exit through the Design Center complex to provide residents with access. “It is very regrettable to see elements that do not respect the arrangements, violate the law, try to inflame tensions and create unnecessary provocations on the ground. This reckless conduct crosses red lines and exacts a heavy price. “A medic who is a neighborhood resident was attacked by a lawbreaker, and a young girl was injured in an accident caused by the reckless driving of a resident. The municipality calls on all neighborhood residents to act responsibly. We will not allow any inciting element to turn the neighborhood into an arena that endangers the lives of residents and their children.” 'Shabbes' versus buses for soldiers “Anyone who desecrates Shabbat does not belong to the Jewish people,” shouts one of the people detained by police in Egged Square in Safed, where for 11 consecutive Saturdays a religious conflict has been playing out between ultra-Orthodox and secular residents over buses leaving shortly before the end of Shabbat from the central bus station toward central Israel, without entering the city. “Anyone who desecrates Shabbat is liable to death by stoning,” he continues. “When the Creator comes and gives punishment to all those who desecrate Shabbat, don’t be surprised afterward when what happened on Simchat Torah happens,” referring to the October 7 massacre. “Those who desecrate Shabbat betray the Holy One, blessed be He. There is no permission in any form to desecrate Shabbat. Anyone who desecrates Shabbat risks a death sentence from the Creator,” said the Haredi demonstrator. For three months, the city that had known quiet, unity and a great deal of understanding between secular and ultra-Orthodox residents has changed. Every Saturday, the city’s main square, Egged Square, becomes a battleground. Ultra-Orthodox protesters who arrive every week from outside the city — most of them not Safed residents — many from the Jerusalem Faction, demonstrate against buses operating on Shabbat to transport soldiers and civilians through Nativ Express, the company that operates the routes in Safed on weekdays. Week after week, large forces of police, Border Police, riot police and detectives arrive at Egged Square, photograph protesters’ faces and arrest rioters. But often the same faces appear again in the square and are arrested for violating a judge’s order. Every vehicle passing through the area is met with cries of “Shabbes,” as are the buses. The protests and roadblocks have also spread to Meron’s central square, where ultra-Orthodox protesters similarly demonstrate against buses traveling on Shabbat. Last Saturday, police had plenty of work: two arrests, seven people detained and roadblocks during a demonstration attended by about 100 ultra-Orthodox protesters and several dozen secular counterprotesters who decided to demonstrate against them. Safed has one neighborhood in the south of the city, called “IDF — Maor Haim,” that is populated