Aliza Bloch

Aliza Bloch (1967) is an Israeli educator and politician. In 2018, she became the first female mayor of Beit Shemesh, and in 2019 she was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of the world's 50 most influential Jews.

Bloch, a Religious Zionist, pledged to unite and accommodate the city's Haredi, secular, and American oleh populations. Bloch was endorsed by a wide spectrum of Israeli political parties, including Jewish Home, Likud, Labor, Kulanu, and Yesh Atid.

During the summer of 2019, Bloch sustained harsh criticism over a spate of demolitions of illegally-built synagogues, with workers removing the spray-painted (in Hebrew) slogan "Aliza Bloch = Hitler" from a wall. Other graffiti labelled her a terrorist. On 1 August, a Beit Shemesh synagogue built on Israel Lands Authority property was demolished by the government, with residents blaming the municipality for not interceding enough on their behalf.