Jerusalem elects secular mayor

Posted

By Uriel Heilman (JTA) and Jewish Star staff

Issue of Nov. 14, 2008 / 17 Cheshvan 5769

(Updated 11-12-08)

A secular businessman has won Jerusalem’s mayoral elections. A city councilman and high-tech entrepreneur, defeated Rabbi Meir Porush, the chosen candidate of Israel’s Charedi leadership, by more than 6 percentage points. The other viable candidate in the race, Russian-Israeli tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak, appeared to be headed for a distant third-place finish in the single digits.

Barkat takes control of City Hall from the hands of Jerusalem’s Orthodox community. That disappointed Israelis concerned over secular influences in the holy city, even as Jews who don’t like Jerusalem’s increasing Orthodox character greeted Barkat's win with relief.

Not all Orthodox voters supported Porush. Israel National News reported Gerrer chassidim at two polling places reported voting for Barkat. The Gerrer Rebbe directed his followers to support Barkat instead of the charedi candidate -- payback, apparently, for an ongoing spat between the Ger camp and Porush.

While Jerusalem’s current mayor, Uri Lupolianski, is widely seen as sympathetic to secular concerns, his would-be successor, Porush, is not thought to have the same sympathies.

Earlier this month, Porush told a campaign rally crowd “in another 15 years there will not be a secular mayor in any city in Israel.” His remarks, delivered in Yiddish at a yeshiva, were not intended for public consumption, but Porush was unaware that a radio station was broadcasting his remarks live.

Yeshiva World News (theyeshivaworld.com) reported that his remarks were somewhat mistranslated, and that the candidate appeared to be talking about mayors of primarily Orthodox cities.

Porush’s spokesman acknowledged that the candidate, a veteran fixture of Israel’s Orthodox political scene and a seventh-generation Jerusalemite, is a proponent of Orthodox-only cities.

The victory by Barkat, a self-made millionaire and venture capitalist, returns Jerusalem’s mayoralty to secular leadership at a pivotal time for the Israeli capital.

With one-third of its residents Orthodox and one-third Arab, Jerusalem is Israel’s largest city and its poorest. Political and religious divisions wrack the city, and its young, secular population is dwindling due to a dearth of affordable real estate, limited job opportunities and what some decry as an increasingly Orthodox character.

Tuesday’s vote was marred by some irregularities. Barkat voting slips apparently disappeared from some polling stations, and his Web site was victimized by hackers who redirected surfers to Porush’s site. At another polling station, a group of Orthodox men reportedly hurled a stone at a police officer, lightly injuring him, in a bid to bar people from voting. Police dispersed the group.

During the campaign, Barkat campaigned on a platform of investing in the city’s tourism-based economy and ensuring that Israel’s capital city remains majority Jewish.

“We have to build Jerusalem economically,” Barkat told JTA in an interview earlier this year. “Jerusalem has only 1.5 million tourists that come annually. We have more to offer than any city. We have to open Jerusalem up to the global tourism marketplace.”

While the turnout exceeded the last municipal elections, in 2003, the vast majority of Jerusalem Arabs stuck to their policy of refusing to participate in the city’s elections.

Tuesday also saw municipal elections in dozens of other cities and towns across Israel.