On Wednesday, 22 July 2026, the eve of Tisha B'Av, the חדשות חריש 1️⃣ WhatsApp news group asked three senior elected officials for a message to residents. Their replies ranged from calls for unity to a pointed refusal.
Acting mayor Yochai Fara'ji wrote that the Temple fell, in the rabbinic teaching, because of baseless hatred, so the repair lies in baseless love, mutual respect and responsibility for one another. Harish is home to a wide range of communities, he said, and the city's mission is to turn that diversity into a blessing.
Deputy mayor Revital Gonen wrote that residents can think differently but are above all neighbours and one community. A strong society, she said, is one that stays united even in disagreement, and these days call for choosing baseless love and listening to those who think differently.
Opposition leader Shani Grinberg declined to provide a message and turned the question back on the askers: has baseless love in Harish grown over the past year, or shrunk? Rather than publishing holiday statements, she argued, news channels should ask what officials have done to prevent division, anger and hatred, and which of their decisions deepened them. She said she applies this to herself first, because "we are all fairly tired of words when they are empty."
Source: statements published by the חדשות חריש 1️⃣ WhatsApp news group, 22 July 2026.
