A secular Israeli legislator was quoted as saying that Israel could “do without” fervently Orthodox immigrants. “You look at Beit Shemesh and you see all the problems that religion is causing in Israel,” Yosef “Tommy” Lapid told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, in an article about the town south of Jerusalem. A third of some 400 immigrants arriving this week from the United States are planning to settle in Beit Shemesh.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
