As if there was not enough worry and confusion foisted on Israelis over the past 20 months, the routes of certain Jerusalem bus lines have been changed. People used to traveling on buses 14, 18, 34, 49, 77, and 97 will do themselves a favor by checking the new routes at the earliest possible convenience.
Providing information on public bomb shelters
■ ON THE other hand, Mayor Moshe Lion is to be complimented for ensuring that the municipal website provides information about public shelters, as well as those in schools. There are 190 municipal shelters, plus 470 in schools. Of the shelters, 18 are accessible to people with mobility challenges.
Barred from bomb shelters
■ ACCORDING TO Hebrew media reports, there have been cases of people seeking shelter not being admitted to hotel bomb shelters if they were not paying guests, nor to community bomb shelters in apartment complexes if they did not live in the building. In some apartment complexes, the occupants of one of the units have often appropriated the communal bomb shelter for themselves, using it as a storage area or an additional bedroom. This is illegal, as is any attempt to deny shelter to someone when a security alert has been sounded. Transgressors should be reported to the police or to Home Front Command.
The worst case was in Nazareth, where all public shelters were closed because the municipality is using them for storage and was afraid that if it let people in, they would take some of the stored items on their way out.
Hitorerut recruits volunteers
■ IN ADDITION to services provided by the municipality per se, Hitorerut, the opposition party in the Jerusalem City Council, is calling for volunteers to join neighborhood emergency groups to ensure that every resident who needs any kind of assistance will be helped.
Hitorerut leader Adir Schwartz, who is also a deputy mayor, says that just as his party immediately mobilized volunteers after October 7, 2023, it is now mobilizing again. He urges residents in the neighborhoods of Armon Hanatziv, Arnona, Beit Hakerem, Baka, Givat Massuah, Gilo, Har Homa, the German Colony, Malcha, Nahlaot, Ein Kerem, Pisgat Ze’ev, Katamon, Kiryat Yovel, Kiryat Menachem, Rehavia, Nayot, Ramot, and Ramat Sharett to join local groups of Hitorerut volunteers. For more information, call 054-425-5438.
Preventing protests
■ WITH THE national focus now on Iran, families of the hostages still in captivity in Gaza are apprehensive that the diversion of attention will remove the hostage situation from the national agenda. Such fears are further aggravated by the instructions of the Home Front Command against large-scale public gatherings and the limiting of protest demonstrations to 30 participants – and likewise 30 worshipers at synagogue services.
Some of the families and activists on behalf of the hostages see this as an excuse for the police to take advantage of the emergency regulations to prevent demonstrations. Reporting on this in Haaretz, Josh Breiner and Bar Peleg cited the case of Jerusalem economics student Itamar Elroi, who has stood opposite the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Aza Road every day since the war with Iran with a placard bearing the image of a hostage – a different one each day.
Last weekend, he resumed his vigil while wearing a T-shirt dedicated to the memory of Hirsh Goldberg-Polin, and holding a placard of hostage Eytan Mor. Elroi was not alone: There was a sprinkling of other demonstrators, all of whom stood a slight distance from one another and not as a cluster.
Police showed up, and Elroi was taken into custody at the Moriah Police Station. An investigator told him that his actions were forbidden in wartime because they took police away from more important duties. She told Elroi that she would let him go this time, but if he demonstrated again he would go to prison.
Surprise, Yariv Levin!
■ JUSTICE MINISTER Yariv Levin, who is openly opposed to the Supreme Court, probably did an about-turn when Justice Noam Sohlberg concurred with his views by rejecting the request of three Palestinian families living in Silwan to appeal their eviction.
English information on compensation for property destroyed by missiles
■ AACI, THE Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, has published data for English speakers on things they need to know if their property is damaged or destroyed.
Compensation from the Property Tax Authority is available for direct damage to property (buildings, vehicles, home contents).
- Damage must be documented immediately after impact: photos, videos – before any repair or cleanup.
- Do not move or repair anything without prior approval from a Property Tax Authority appraiser.
- Claims must be submitted by three months from the date of the damage.
- Injuries (physical or emotional): Compensation may be available from the National Insurance Institute (Bituah Leumi), depending on medical documentation.
- Guide for civilians whose property was damaged in acts of war or hostility: https://www.gov.il/en/pages/guide-for-civilians-property-damaged-in-hostilities
Emergency phone numbers:
- Police: 100
- Magen David Adom: 101
- Fire and Rescue Service: 102
- Home Front Command: 104
- Home Front Command WhatsApp: 052-910-9104
- Ministry of Aliyah and Immigration: *2994
- Eran First Aid for Olim: *3201
- NATAL Trauma Call Center: *3362
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