Residents of Arad have launched a protest campaign against what they describe as a “takeover of the city by Gur Hassidim,” with a rally scheduled for Thursday.
Organizers say the Gur community is attempting to gain control of the city, posing what they view as a serious threat to Arad’s character and residents.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks, at times erupting into violent confrontations. During one clash in a residential neighborhood, Gur Hassidim were filmed attempting to abduct teenagers who had arrived at the scene. A member of the Gur community was also filmed holding a knife during the incident.
Additional clashes broke out during protests against the arrests of yeshiva students accused of evading military service. Residents who are not members of the Gur community attempted to prevent protest convoys from leaving the city.
Four Arad residents were arrested during the demonstrations and taken for questioning at the local police station. None belonged to the Gur community. One of those arrested was a mother of five.
The arrests prompted a group of residents to demonstrate outside the police station.
“The violence began on the part of the Gur Hassidim and deteriorated into violence on both sides,” said Shlomi Tavachnik, an Arad native and resident who joined the protests against what residents describe as the Gur Hasidic community’s takeover of the city.
Tavachnik: A protester had a knife
“The Gur Hassidim were the most violent during that incident," said Tavachnik. "There is even footage of one of them pulling out a knife. Police officers who subdued him and took the knife from him later released him near his home.”
The Gur protest convoy was expected to depart from an assembly point in the city’s industrial zone. The gathering was initially planned for the plaza outside the central synagogue but was later moved to the industrial zone.
Residents who are not part of the Gur community also arrived at the site to block the convoy from leaving. Their arrival further inflamed tensions in the city, leading to the confrontation that followed.
The protesters accuse law enforcement authorities of discriminating against them in favor of the Gur community.
“They are carrying out selective enforcement," Tavachnik said. "They treat us, the city’s residents, like second-class residents. That is why we decided that we would no longer remain silent, and that we would respond to the violence we have been suffering here for two and a half years and to the dismissive treatment we receive from the authorities and law enforcement.”
The Gur Hassidim began protesting after a couple from the community was arrested on suspicion of abusing their infant son.
“The Gur Hassidim launched a violent protest, and the people of Arad who are not Gur Hassidim paid the price," Tavachnik added. "This included being beaten, spat on, and having their vehicles damaged, while the Gur Hassidim got what they wanted and the couple who were arrested were released to their home.”
The tensions between the communities developed against the backdrop of municipal elections held approximately two and a half years ago.
The Gur community backed Yair Maayan, the winning candidate, and its affiliated party received 33% of the vote. Maayan’s party received less than 10%.
As a result, Maayan had to rely on representatives affiliated with the Gur Hasidic community to form a municipal coalition.
Five of the city council’s 14 members belong to Agudat Yisrael, the party affiliated with Arad’s Gur community. They were joined by representatives of other religious parties and the two elected members of Maayan’s Likud faction.
According to Maayan’s biography, he moved to Arad from Moshav Mabu’im in the Negev in 2023.
The coalition agreement brought significant benefits to members of the hassidic community. Public buildings, including kindergartens and bomb shelters, were transferred to the community’s control.
New hassidic neighborhood planned for Arad
More recently, developers affiliated with the community received extensive plots of land in a new neighborhood planned for construction in the coming years.
These developments further fueled tensions between the Gur community and other Arad residents. The dispute has repeatedly intensified and subsided following decisions to give the community responsibility for various municipal properties and transfer control of those properties to it.
The growth of Arad’s Gur community was driven largely by its members’ need for alternative housing and the city’s relatively low property prices.
Hassidim began buying and renting apartments throughout the city, particularly in older public housing developments where aging buildings had driven down property prices.
Previous residents left those developments in search of better housing, and many moved out of Arad altogether.
As the hassidic community grew, its residential areas expanded into other parts of the city. The growing population required additional public facilities, leading the haredi education system to adapt existing institutions, including kindergartens and schools, to meet the community’s needs.
After a missile struck a residential neighborhood where many members of the community live during Operation Roaring Lion, it emerged that some bomb shelters in the housing developments had been converted into kindergartens or synagogues.
Tensions between the Gur community and other residents have risen sharply in recent weeks amid haredi protests against the enlistment of yeshiva students and the arrests of draft evaders.