Who spread the rumour of the riots in Zfat ?

The old city of Safed (Zfat).

Photo: Miriam Woelke

B"H

Just recently I wrote about the "riots" between Haredim and Arab youth in Safed (Zfat) / northern Israel. Some Israeli news sites had mentioned some violent clashes between Arabs and Haredim (one site wrote "Chabad").

I have arrived in Safed today in order to enjoy my two or three days vacation and just relax and maybe do something spiritual. However, I asked some Haredim about the clashes and all of them told me that there was nothing going on. One Chabadnik told me that obviously someone has an interest by spreading rumours and favouring the Arabs.

The Chief Rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, made a decree that it is forbidden to rent out apartment to Arab students studying at an academic institute in the Old City of Safed. I was also told that the municipalty told the inhabintans of a city owned apartment block to leave and what happened was that Arab students moved in instead. No wonder that some haredi inhabitants of Safed see a whole conspiracy of the local municipality coming up by rejecting the Haredim but favouring Arab students from the villages around.

As soon as there are more news, I am going to write about the subject again !