'Left-wing Israelis will burn synagogues,' Beersheba mayoral candidate warns

Beersheba Deputy Mayor Shimon Boker recently put out an advertisement referencing the Yom Kippur clashes at Dizengoff, saying, "Will it end in the burning of synagogues? I promise - this will not happen in Beersheba."

Ido Atias and Timor Michaeli, heads of the city's chapter of the "Liberal Youth" movement, "A New Vision for Beersheba," filed a police report against him in response to the ad.

בבאר שבע יש מועמד אחד לראשות העיר. הבחירות למועצה הן הדבר האמיתי. זה פלייר שחולק לתושבי העיר בדואר. הרשימה בראשות שמעון בוקר, איש ליכוד מוכר, מבטיחה שבבאר שבע ידאגו שלא ישרפו בתי כנסת. מזל. באמת חששתי pic.twitter.com/zGxdVLM4nX

— ilana curiel (@ilanacuriel) October 2, 2023

According to their complaint, Boker used "inciting language" in his ad.

Boker's response to the complaint

Boker is running for city council with the "64 Mandates" party, which has Likud support. He refuted the claims of incitement, telling Maariv: 

"For 75 years, Beersheva has been a city of unity between secular people, haredim, religious Zionists, and the masorti (traditional) majority until they brought a hateful protest here in buses from the kibbutzim and the center of the country...We have seen the slippery slope in the conduct of the protest this past year against everything that symbolizes and smells like Judaism."

He further clarified the language of his advertisement, saying: "I don't think anyone would really burn down a synagogue now. But a year ago we wouldn't have even dared to imagine a protest on Holocaust Remembrance Day, a pizza party in the hospitals on Passover, systematic harassment against [Chabad] tefillin stands...and of course the Yom Kippur events at Dizengoff. We have a 3,000-year-old vision and we don't need a new one."