Agudat Yisrael chief: 'Haifa's haredi community is still under lockdown' - Haredi Community ‏

Head of Agudat Yisrael in Haifa says closure of intercity buses before holiday unfairly affects haredi community.

Rabbi Aryeh Blintental, chairman of Agudat Yisrael in Haifa, on Monday morning claimed that like haredi communities around Israel, the haredi community in his city is still under lockdown, and the city's buses have not yet resumed operations.

Rabbi Blitental said that over the past few weeks, he has turned to the relevant parties in the government and the Public Transportation Authority, but he has yet to receive a response.

"Residents want to travel, to visit their parents and families who live in other cities, and until now they have not been able to do so," the haredi Hamevaser newspaper quoted him as saying.

A local resident said that the cessation of the intercity public transportation on Fridays and Saturday evenings will once again harm locals' attempts to celebrate the upcoming holiday with family members who live in other cities.

"This week we're talking about Thursday already, the eve of the Shavuot holiday (Festival of Weeks - ed.), when all intercity buses will not operate," he said.

"Even after the limits on family members have already been lifted, it seems that someone is choosing to keep the haredi communities in their cities and not allow them to travel from city to city, knowing that they are the 'heaviest' users of the public transportation which has been closed."