Beit Shemesh

Israel's ultra-Orthodox community can no longer avoid the hard conversations - opinion

The haredi community has the numbers, the talent, and the values to lift this country into a new and bright future; we cannot be the ones to drag it down.

|ByMOTI LEITNER
Moti Leitner, deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh and founder of the Haredi Public Party, at the ‘Jerusalem Post’ studio, August 11, 2026
Photo from the indictment of Liel Ifergan for the aggravated murder of seven-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon, September 14, 2026.

Man charged with aggravated murder in fatal Beit Shemesh pool stabbing of 7-year-old

Prosecutors allege that he stabbed Dadon once in the chest and his cousin once in the neck, intending to kill them both. He then fled to his housing unit, the indictment says.

|BySARAH BEN-NUN
Khaled Awaishat, bus driver who was attacked by a minor in Beit Shemesh, August 31, 2026.

'Ben-Gvir's soldiers': Teenager arrested on suspicion of assaulting Arab bus driver in Beit Shemesh

"I turned to get the phone to call the police," the driver recalled. "But suddenly, punches to the head, blows to the right and left until I lost consciousness. I only woke up in the ambulance."

|ByALON HOCHMON, MIRIAM SELA-EITAM
Former Beit Shemesh mayor and Unity Party member Aliza Bloch in an interview with 'The Jerusalem Post.'

Israel 'abandoned' haredi students, education reform needed, Aliza Bloch tells 'Post' - interview

She criticized the structure of Israel's education system, arguing that the government has ceded too much responsibility for decisions affecting students to bodies outside the public sector.

|BySHIR PERETS

Second round of municipal election ballots open in 35 cities

Haifa is the biggest city to be holding a second round of voting. Other cities include Ariel, Harish, Rehovot, Ramle, Kiryat Gat, and Binyamina-Givat Ada.

MARCH 10, 2024ByELIAV BREUER
Haifa Mayoral candidate David Etzioni casts his ballot at a voting station on the morning of the Municipal Elections, in Haifa, on February 27, 2024.

Beit Shemesh man arrested for attempting to bribe voters, commit fraud

A Beit Shemesh resident in his 20s attempted to bribe voters to vote for a specific candidate, and tried to buy ID cards to commit voter fraud.

FEBRUARY 27, 2024BySHLOMI HELLER
Illustrative: Police car at night

Initiative helps beef up IDF by giving soldiers jerky

Beef Up Our Boys is an initiative launched in Beit Shemesh that makes as much jerky as possible to distribute to IDF soldiers.

JANUARY 29, 2024BySTEVE LINDE
An illustrative image of beef jerky.

Bus with children aboard overturned near Beit Shemesh, several injured

Shaare Zedek Medical Center confirmed the admittance of eight injured children in the trauma room.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Scenes of the overturned bus near Beit Shemesh, September 27, 2023

Blown away: Kick off Rosh Hashanah with biblical shofar exhibit

With all the various shofars that are kosher on display, one can be blown away, and it’s a pretty sweet way to kick off the new year.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023ByURIEL PEIZER
RABBI DR. NATAN SLIFKIN blows one of his shofars at the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh.

Israel Police rescue Beit Shemesh mayor from violent haredi protest

Ultra-Orthodox protestors besieged Mayor Aliza Bloch at a haredi school while she attended an opening ceremony.

AUGUST 30, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF, TROY O. FRITZHAND
‘LAST WEEK, the city that had effectively erased its women elected a woman to be mayor’: Aliza Bloch.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch attacked by haredi extremists

Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch's office noted that a group of haredi residents blocked the assailants from reaching the mayor.

JULY 18, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch speaks during a press conference at the Beit Shemesh municipality building on November 20, 2018

Violent riots break out overnight in Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem

The riots were held by ultra-Orthodox Israelis in response to a variety of municipal and national policies.

JUNE 28, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
The aftermath of violent riots in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh on Wednesday evening, June 28, 2023.

Israeli teens arrested for brutally raping two-year-old toddler in Beit Shemesh

A Beit Shemesh teen told police he was coerced by another minor to brutally rape his two-and-a-half-year-old family member.

JUNE 2, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Police and paramedics at a crime scene in Beit Shemesh on July 23, 2022

Reckless driving on public transportation has to stop - opinion

Bus passengers have reported drivers speeding, being distracted by their phones, failing to stop at bus stops and many more.

MAY 7, 2023ByLIZA JUDAH
A PASSENGER’S photo of the bus in which he was traveling; the bus swerved off the road, possibly trying to avoid a car, at Nachshon junction near Latrun, injuring some 20 passengers, in March.