JERUSALEM (JTA) — A religious-Zionist female candidate for mayor of the largely haredi-Orthodox city of Beit Shemesh defeated two-term incumbent Moshe Abutbul.

The race, decided more than 24 hours after the polls closed, came down to the wire, and was decided by the 1,000 soldiers’ votes and some 300 votes of disabled people which are cast remotely and counted later. On Wednesday, with 99 percent of the ballots counted, Abutbul had led by 250 votes. Once the remote votes were counted, Bloch won by 533 votes in the city with a population of more than 114,000.

Bloch became the first woman to run for mayor of the city in 2013.”The people of Israel look today to Beit Shemesh with new hope,” Bloch said in her acceptance speech. “Beit Shemesh decided to cancel its walls. Beit Shemesh decided to tear down its dividers.” She used the term mechitza, which are the dividers used to separate men and women in a synagogue.

In recent years, the city has become a flashpoint for conflicts between the haredi community and its secular and Modern Orthodox populations. Conflict has arisen, for example, over restrictions on women’s dress and gender-segregated seating on public buses. In a widely publicized incident in 2011, an 8-year-old Orthodox girl was spat on by haredim on the way to school for her perceived immodest dress.

ADVERTISEMENT

Let’s block ads! (Why?)