ByGREER FAY CASHMANJUNE 6, 2026 09:11Transportation Minister Miri Regev wants to make public transport free to encourage greater use of buses, the light rail, and trains, thereby reducing traffic on roads and highways. The more experienced people in her office say free public transport will not work.One of the reasons is that buses and the light rail are already overcrowded, and in some areas, so are trains. Even if people are willing to go into sardine mode, they don’t want to be stuck that way in heavy traffic. Regev’s plan would require additional buses and light rail carriages, which would also have to run more frequently than they do at the present time, and would add to congestion.Moneywise, all this would take far more than Regev’s budget would allow. Aside from that, it requires legislation, and with Knesset elections only three or four months away, it is doubtful this can pass.Then there’s the Israeli psyche. A smart, new-model private car is a status symbol. Now that the shekel is so strong in relation to the US dollar and the euro, car sales have skyrocketed. One only has to walk along the alleyways or small streets of Jerusalem to see the number of cars parked bumper to bumper.Ambulance driver shopping for ShabbatOf both the parked vehicles and those on the road, one can’t help wondering to what extent the ambulance and police car drivers are abusing their rights. While urgent cases obviously deserve their immediate attention, who actually checks whether an ambulance or a police car with siren blaring is actually on a rescue mission?A Magen David Adom ambulance, pictured in March 28, 2024; illustrative. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)Last Friday, an ambulance was parked on a sidewalk on Agrippas Street, in a very busy section. Passersby and people waiting for a bus eyed the ambulance curiously, wondering what personal tragedy had brought it to this spot.It soon transpired that, fortunately, there was no tragedy. The driver was merely doing his Shabbat shopping, and emerged from a store with his purchases.Lack of respect for public, private propertyThere's another frequent source of abuse that points to narcissism, lack of respect for public and private property, and total absence of consideration for other people. It’s bad enough when vandals spray-paint slogans or meaningless messages on bare fences, but when they spray across guidelines to bus routes or across notices pasted on billboards, that is almost bordering on a criminal offense.Worse still is what is done to the almost completed and soon-to-be-opened Grand Hotel on Jaffa Road. Entrepreneur Laurent Levy, known as someone who does not necessarily adhere to the rules of the construction process of his projects, and has been criticized for that in this column, is at least a person to whom aesthetics are important.The scaffolding on the hotel was covered with fencing that depicted what the exterior of the hotel will look like once it’s done. It also contained images of Jerusalem from the early years of the last century. The whole concept was really beautiful, but it is regularly marred by spray painters. Levy kept putting up new unadulterated posters that covered the fencing from top to bottom, but the spray painters kept defacing them. That’s just plain egotistic evil.Why do anti-Zionist Jews live in Israel?It's somewhat difficult to understand why there are anti-Zionist Jews who persist in providing ammunition for Israel’s enemies. If they don’t want to be Zionists, that’s their prerogative, but why have they chosen to live in Israel and to demonstrate against the government, the police, and the army?There are, after all, wonderful centers of Torah-true, anti-Zionist communities in the US and Europe. If they are against the Zionist state, why don’t they migrate?Most of the anti-draft demonstrations take place in Jerusalem and are photographed and distributed by representatives of international news agencies. At a recent demonstration, one white-bearded man was holding a placard on which was printed, “With all my soul, I would rather die than be recruited.”He looked too old to be recruited, but he was surrounded by young people. Worse still were the photos taken of anti-Zionist religious Jewish demonstrators at the annual Israel parade in New York last Sunday. Nearly all their placards were in English, and in some cases carried ridiculous statements such as “Judaism rejects Zionism” or “Authentic Rabbis always opposed Zionism and the State of Israel.”What exactly is an authentic rabbi? Such statements are direct insults to prominent rabbis such as the Ger Rebbe Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter and the Biala Rebbe Rabbi Benzion Rabinowitz and many other influential spiritual leaders who live in Jerusalem.All, whether Zionist or not, have chosen to live in the State of Israel. But the haredim in New York, by demonstrating in the manner that they do, put the Jews of Israel at risk. They want to have large-scale meetings behind closed doors – fine. But don’t provide Israel’s enemies and the enemies of the Jewish people with additional hate material.Jerusalem's chess projectsIs Jerusalem on the way to becoming the chess capital of the Middle East? An extensive article in Kol Ha’ir, the Jerusalem supplement of Haaretz, tells of an absorbing educational project that closes generation gaps and causes preschool children from age 5 onward to think about strategies.Supported by the municipality, the chess project now operates in 25 kindergartens throughout Jerusalem. Mayor Moshe Lion believes that teaching youngsters how to play chess is most important, and the strategies they devise serve them in good standing in other settings.Some also attend the Jerusalem Chess Club on Zakai Street, Katamon, where adults can also come as an educational tool. It also has a great social impact in that they learn to compete to play chess. Believed to be the largest of the city’s chess clubs, it operates all week long.The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jerusalem Post or its affiliates.greerfc@gmail.comFollow us on Google