Beitar Illit Mayor Meir Rubenstein on Monday controversially ordered to deny entry into all buses in the West Bank settlement for Arab passengers, including those carrying Israeli ID badges.
"I turned to [Transportation Minister] Miri Regev to stop this phenomenon of Palestinians getting on buses, avoiding checkpoints," he told Radio Kol Hai on Sunday, adding that he told local security companies to carry out checks on buses entering the settlement.
"At night, they throw stones at us," the mayor lamented. "During the day, some residents go out and support them financially." Rubenstein was interviewed following the arrest of a suspect who placed an explosive device on a bus in the settlement along with four who may have aided him in an overnight raid of the West Bank village of Battir on Saturday.
Security forces also confiscated a vehicle suspected of being used in the placing of the device, according to a joint statement by the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police.
Beitar Illit mayor: Police can probe me if they want
On Monday, Rubenstein was quoted by independent journalist Yedidya Epstein as saying, "I ordered that Arab passengers be taken off buses even if they have a blue ID card. Police can interrogate me if they want to."
The municipality later sent out a statement explaining that the mayor only meant for the bus ban to apply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank, rather than blue ID-carrying Israelis.
ראה"ע ביתר מאיר רובינשטיין: הוריתי להוריד מאוטובוסים נוסעים ערבים גם אם הם בעלי תעודת זהות כחולה. אם המשטרה רוצה – שתחקור אותי.
— ידידיה אפשטיין (@yedidya_epstien) March 12, 2023
Later in his interview with Kol Hai, the Beitar Illit mayor boasted that he "personally accompanied" the bus checks as three Palestinians were taken off. "I was yelled at for causing a delay [to the buses]...There will be complaints no matter what we do."
Rubenstein, who has been serving as mayor of Beitar Illit since 2007, was arrested in 2021 on suspicion of connection to the disappearance of Nissim Shitrit in 1986 and the murder of Avraham Edri in 1990. As of January 2023, it is unclear if he will be indicted.