{"id":214272,"date":"2026-07-20T03:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/214272\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T03:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:29:10","slug":"union-blocks-tax-authority-workers-return-to-bnei-brak-over-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/214272\/","title":{"rendered":"Union blocks Tax Authority workers’ return to Bnei Brak over safety concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Employees Union<\/a> Chairman Ofir Alkalay objected to Tax Authority workers returning to Bnei Brak until their safety is guaranteed, Ynet reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Tax Authority Director Shay Aharonovich met with Bnei Brak<\/a> Mayor Hanoch Zeibert at the mayor\u2019s office on Thursday afternoon to discuss the latest attack<\/a> on Tax Authority workers. Following the meeting, the Tax Authority announced that operations in the city would resume.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zeibert, who had initially refrained from publicly condemning the attacks, issued his first statement on the incident following the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no place for violence in the city of Torah and Hasidism<\/a>, whose ways are ways of pleasantness,\u201d he said. \u201cPublic employees, including Tax Authority employees, carry out their work faithfully in Bnei Brak, just as they do in every city in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting was also attended by Senior Deputy Director for Customer Service David Rotenberg, Senior Deputy Director for Assessment and Auditing Ruby Botbol, and Municipal Director General Rabbi Yisrael Ehrenstein.<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli security and rescue forces at the scene where a missile fired from Iran toward Israel caused damage in Bnei Brak, April 1, 2026. (credit: FLASH90)Employee Union representatives were not at the meeting<\/p>\n

Alkalay said union representatives were not present at the meeting and expressed doubt that the assurances would guarantee workers\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cA publicized meeting with the mayor still does not guarantee the safety of Tax Authority employees,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, no discussion was held with the employees\u2019 representatives on the matter, and another attack could take place as soon as tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Alkalay said employees would not return to work in Bnei Brak until clear measures were put in place to ensure their safety while carrying out their duties.<\/p>\n

Tax Authority employees were violently assaulted by a mob in Bnei Brak\u2019s Kiryat Vizhnitz neighborhood numbering in the hundreds on the afternoon of July 16 while carrying out enforcement activities in the city.<\/p>\n

Aharonovich sent a sharply worded letter to Mayor Zeibert the following day, ordering the suspension of war damage claim processing in the city until Bnei Brak\u2019s leadership publicly and unequivocally condemned the attacks.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s attack on employees was deliberate<\/p>\n

In\u00a0its reporting, Ynet obtained messages revealing that Thursday’s attack was not a spontaneous incident but rather a deliberate act by residents against\u00a0Tax Authority employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the employees entered the neighborhood, Hasidic residents received a recorded warning via a telephone hotline: \u201cUnwanted guests are walking around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another message said: \u201cTo manage the campaign in the neighborhood, yeshiva students who can come urgently are needed. Unwanted guests are currently walking around Kiryat Melech Rav. The public is asked not to cooperate and not to answer questions. From good to good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Employees Union said the Tax Authority\u2019s decision to resume services following the meeting was unacceptable and that employees would not return to Bnei Brak for the time being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Employees Union Chairman Ofir Alkalay objected to Tax Authority workers returning to Bnei Brak until their safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[19736,12272,27021,37,22951],"class_list":["post-214272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-bnei-brak","tag-haredi","tag-histadrut","tag-israel","tag-israel-tax-authority"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116950189042793582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}