Rehovot Confirms Review of Daat Land-Allocation Complaint

Rehovot municipality has confirmed that a complaint about a proposed allocation of municipal property to the Daat association was referred to professional staff for examination. In a response published on October 31, the city said it would act under the law and its procedures after receiving the findings. It did not give a date for the referral. “Upon receiving the request, the matter was immediately referred to the municipality’s professional staff for examination,” the municipality said. The dispute concerns a proposed 25-year allocation without payment of premises at 141 Herzl Street to Daat, whose name is Jewish Studies in the Light of Hasidism. Five councillors raised the complaint in an October 25 letter to city manager Yosfa Haliva. They alleged that paid private-college activity was taking place at premises sought for synagogue use, and that councillors had received incomplete information before approving committee items advancing the allocation process. They also questioned whether the application had been adequately examined. The councillors asked the city to stop the allocation process and argued that commercial use would require a public tender. They sought retrospective municipal-tax and rent payments they alleged were owed and warned of possible legal action. Those positions remain the councillors’ claims. The municipal response confirms examination of the complaint, without announcing a freeze or a finding of wrongdoing; further action is to follow the professional findings.