After daily terror attacks in Israel, Arab Muslims work adjacent to kindergartens with no security
Parents hold strike on Jerusalem kindergartens, after authorities ignore requests for security for children in immediate attack range.
The parents of children at three out of four kindergartens in the Har Homa neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem on Tuesday launched a strike, refusing to send their kids to kindergarten due to what appears to be a severe security failure.
Just adjacent to the kindergartens, which do not have security guards stationed at them, [Arab] laborers are working at a building site, posing a palpable security threat to the young children in the midst of a terror wave. Arab terrorists have repeatedly manipulated their place of gainful employment to launch attacks.
Batel Mishnayot, the mother of one of the children in the kindergartens, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday about the lacking response the parents have received from the relevant authorities about their security concerns, which led them to decide to strike.
“We are talking about kindergartens in which the age range is from three to five,” explained Mishnayot. “They are in the Har Homa neighborhood which, as is well known, is adjacent to the security fence around Jerusalem.”
The concerned mother said, “what bothers us is that they began building an active construction site adjacent to the kindergartens. Tractors are working right above the courtyard of the children – even aside from the security problems it’s a safety problem. Rocks can roll down into the courtyard.”
She emphasized that there is no security guard at the site to keep the children safe from the frightening risk of a terror attack.
Mishnayot reported that for the past several months parent representatives have repeatedly tried to request that the Jerusalem municipality and other relevant authorities place a security guard on site, but their requests continue to be passed from one department to the other and generally ignored. No solution has yet been presented to the parents.
“They directed us from one person responsible for such matters to another in the municipality. We didn’t get a single answer. Everyone passed responsibility to another organization,” she said.
“While there is an entry code that is supposed to provide some security, one can jump over the fence without a problem,” she added, noting that the kindergarten is located on a relatively isolated street at the edges of the neighborhood, thereby heightening the dangers.
In response to the troubling security situation, the parents decided to hold a strike on the kindergartens, and three out of the four kindergartens in the area have been on strike since Tuesday.
Mishnayot related that it is difficult to find a way to cope during the strike; today her daughter will be with her grandmother at work. But she stressed that the difficulty of finding care is preferable to the danger that the children were exposed to.
“They are speaking with us about budgets and the responsibility of the police. We’ve lost the strength to struggle in the regular way,” she said, explaining the decision to strike.
Arutz Sheva has contacted the Jerusalem municipality with a request to comment on the matter. No response has yet been received, but when one is given it will be published.
