The elections were not repealed over 36 votes. From a halachic perspective, even if there were just one fraudulent vote, there would probably have been a need to recall the elections, but from a general, legal perspective, the issue which made the decision was the fact that there was "An Organized, Planned Effort to Cheat and Change the Election Results" (to quote the verdict).
Hundreds of residents of Nahala u'Menuha and RBS-B testified to depositing their teduot zehut with "strangers", or in special deposit boxes that were placed in shuls days before the elections.
This is a scary thought- that the Hareidi world can allow hundreds, if not more, of people to be part of a large-scale scam to cheat on elections!!! And using shuls for this purpose!?!?!!? Is this something that we , as religious Jews, can allow ourselves to sweep under the carpet?
The number 36 is the number of teudot zehut, FROM TWO HUNDRED THAT WERE CONFISCATED IN ONE POLICE RAID that had been used to vote illegally before they were confiscated. That number does NOT include many other illegal votes cast in other neighbourhoods, nor does it include the closing of ballot stations in non-hareidi areas (by hareidi workers) in the morning hours, thereby preventing non-Hareidi residents from voting. it does not include the use of dead people's teudot zehut for voting, nor the voting in place of people who were overseas on election day. The number 36 does not include the fact that in some hareidi neighbourhoods, more votes were counted than voters, with no complaints registered by any of the hareidi members of the ballot commission. Nor does the magic number 36 allude to the Shas ballot-commissioner who was arrested midday after pocketing all voting slips for the non-Hareidi mayoral candidate.
The 36 does not include the many, many people who changed their addresses to Bet Shemesh in order to vote, though they never moved to Beit Shemesh. In some cases, there were magically 7 families living in one apartment. And the number 36 does not include the stooge - the deputy mayor who ran for mayor (garnering less than 1% of the vote), yet called people the day before the elections to tell them to vote for Mayor Abutbul.
Again, the judges' made their decision solely on the basis of the large-scale, organized and planned scam that took place in the hareidi neighbourhoods with the goal of distorting the election results.
The question the judges asked, and the testimonies answered, was simply: can elections in which this type of fraud happened, be considered proper elections?
It's a bit like the Dayeinu song: if that were all the cheating that had gone on, it would have been enough to cancel the election results. And the fact that there was more than that, is that much more of a Hillul HaShem.
When a religious news agency chooses to ignore the facts in order to warp the readers' view of the legal process that would be quite similar to a planned, organized effort to distort people's attitudes, and is therefore yet another Hillul HaShem.
Hundreds of residents of Nahala u'Menuha and RBS-B testified to depositing their teduot zehut with "strangers", or in special deposit boxes that were placed in shuls days before the elections.
This is a scary thought- that the Hareidi world can allow hundreds, if not more, of people to be part of a large-scale scam to cheat on elections!!! And using shuls for this purpose!?!?!!? Is this something that we , as religious Jews, can allow ourselves to sweep under the carpet?
The number 36 is the number of teudot zehut, FROM TWO HUNDRED THAT WERE CONFISCATED IN ONE POLICE RAID that had been used to vote illegally before they were confiscated. That number does NOT include many other illegal votes cast in other neighbourhoods, nor does it include the closing of ballot stations in non-hareidi areas (by hareidi workers) in the morning hours, thereby preventing non-Hareidi residents from voting. it does not include the use of dead people's teudot zehut for voting, nor the voting in place of people who were overseas on election day. The number 36 does not include the fact that in some hareidi neighbourhoods, more votes were counted than voters, with no complaints registered by any of the hareidi members of the ballot commission. Nor does the magic number 36 allude to the Shas ballot-commissioner who was arrested midday after pocketing all voting slips for the non-Hareidi mayoral candidate.
The 36 does not include the many, many people who changed their addresses to Bet Shemesh in order to vote, though they never moved to Beit Shemesh. In some cases, there were magically 7 families living in one apartment. And the number 36 does not include the stooge - the deputy mayor who ran for mayor (garnering less than 1% of the vote), yet called people the day before the elections to tell them to vote for Mayor Abutbul.
Again, the judges' made their decision solely on the basis of the large-scale, organized and planned scam that took place in the hareidi neighbourhoods with the goal of distorting the election results.
The question the judges asked, and the testimonies answered, was simply: can elections in which this type of fraud happened, be considered proper elections?
It's a bit like the Dayeinu song: if that were all the cheating that had gone on, it would have been enough to cancel the election results. And the fact that there was more than that, is that much more of a Hillul HaShem.
When a religious news agency chooses to ignore the facts in order to warp the readers' view of the legal process that would be quite similar to a planned, organized effort to distort people's attitudes, and is therefore yet another Hillul HaShem.
