Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Reuven Ladiansky launched a sharp verbal assault on Tuesday against local Chabad emissaries who formally submitted an application for an exceptional zoning use permit to establish a synagogue. Ladiansky stated his intention to utilize his municipal authority to torpedo the initiative: “Chabad has already taken over part of the underground parking lot, and now they have submitted a request to the local planning and building committee for an exceptional use permit from parking to a synagogue. This will reach the subcommittee—I sit there, and we will not let this happen.”
In a video shared to his X account, Ladiansky arrived on-site at the commercial center in the Ramat Aviv Gimmel neighborhood of northern Tel Aviv, declaring: “I will not permit a synagogue to be built here. There will be no synagogue, no yeshiva, nothing established in this underground parking garage. We will put an end to Chabad’s attempts to take over spaces throughout Ramat Aviv Gimmel.”
The remarks triggered immediate public outrage across social media platforms, with commentators condemning the deputy mayor’s stance: “This is the Jewish state,” wrote one user, while another noted: “Nobody asks your permission. In the Jewish state, there will be a synagogue wherever Jews wish to pray.” Others added: “How sad and painful to see how low we have descended as a society,” and “Where does this animosity come from? Would you react this way to a mosque? Who is harmed by a small synagogue at the edge of a parking garage for people who want to pray?”
The Local Planning and Building Committee, which has statutory authority to approve rezoning or exceptional use permits, comprises ten municipal council members, including Ladiansky. Consequently, the deputy mayor lacks the legal authority to block or dismiss the permit application unilaterally. Should municipal professional planning officials recommend approving the exceptional use from an engineering and zoning standpoint, Ladiansky cannot block the approval on his own.
Can He Actually Block the Decision?
Nevertheless, precedent regarding comparable requests indicates that municipal land maintains strictly designated uses; urban planning policy typically disfavors exceptional use approvals that conflict with primary parking infrastructure. Responding to the issue, the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality stated: “Any party is entitled to submit an application for exceptional use to the municipal local committee. Every request is rigorously evaluated by professional planning personnel, and that standard procedure will apply in this case as well.”