The Tax Authority will stop processing compensation claims regarding war damage in the largely ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak until the city’s leadership publicly condemns recent attacks on the authority’s employees, director Shay Aharonovich said on Friday.

Bnei Brak, a Tel Aviv suburb, was the target of several missile attacks during the wars with Iran this year and last, causing widespread damage to civilian infrastructure and deaths.

In a letter to Bnei Brak Mayor Hanoch Zeibert, Aharonovich said Tax Authority employees who came to the city on Thursday were “violently attacked” by hundreds of people while carrying out their duties and had to be extracted by police. He noted that the incident came just a week after another alleged assault on Tax Authority employees in the city.

Videos circulating online documenting one of the incidents show crowds of Haredi men surrounding and throwing projectiles at a civilian vehicle, presumably with Tax Authority employees inside, as police officers attempt to help the driver navigate to safety.

Aharonovich criticized the city’s government for failing to condemn either incident, writing that he has “no choice but to conclude that Tax Authority employees are not welcome in your city.”

He said he therefore instructed the Tax Authority to halt all processing of compensation claims submitted by Bnei Brak residents........

© The Times of Israel