Capital candidates

Do MKs who live in the city take care of Jerusalem’s needs? ‘In Jerusalem’ interviewed eight candidates to find out.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Zeev Elkin (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Zeev Elkin
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
After the March 17 elections, between 12 and 15 Jerusalemites are expected to have seats in the next Knesset. Some of them will have been part of the parliament before, while for others, it will be the first time. At least four of them have already been schooled in representing public affairs via the city council. But whether the candidates have been city council members or simply residents, one can assume that they are familiar with the issues and needs of the city.
This begs the question: Once they move to the Knesset, will their knowledge of Jerusalem’s needs continue to concern them? And if so, to what extent? There are, of course, varied answers to the question of whether it is good or bad for Jerusalem to have its officials in the Knesset. Legendary Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek refused several times to run for the Knesset, arguing that the best place to take care of his beloved city’s interests was in the mayor’s office.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert took over from Kollek in 1993 and later left to join prime minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima Party. Once in the Knesset and in the government, he did not prove to be a fierce defender of the city. However, as industry, trade and labor minister, he was the first to launch and finance training courses for young haredi men who wanted to leave yeshiva and join the workforce.
According to Mayor Nir Barkat, even the minister for Jerusalem affairs (currently Naftali Bennett) is not in the strongest position to help the city financially. Barkat has not declared it officially, but rumor has it that if Benjamin Netanyahu heads the next government, Barkat will serve as Jerusalem affairs minister.
Two of the candidates, Eli Yishai and Arye Deri, began their political journey almost simultaneously on the city council 30 years ago, when Yishai was a council member for Shas and Deri was his assistant. Today, the two head opposing parties – Yahad and Shas, respectively – and are engaged in a bitter struggle that has left the current Shas city council list of four members almost paralyzed between the two.
Yahad member MK Yoni Chetboun was born in Nahariya in 1979 and grew up in Netanya; today, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and seven children. Chetboun was elected to the 19th Knesset as part of Bayit Yehudi, but due to an ideological dispute, left the party in December and joined Yishai’s Yahad, saying the new party could bring about unity between all religious sectors.
Rachel Azaria, who has never hidden her political ambitions in the approximately eight years since she began heading the Yerushalmim Party, is No. 3 in Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu Party.
Following a highly publicized incident between her and Barkat in September 2012 over the prevention of gender segregation on the streets of Mea She’arim, Azaria was ousted from the mayor’s coalition into an isolated one-seat list.
But she returned to center stage after the 2013 municipal elections, when she became the only female deputy mayor. A good relationship and shared views on local issues with another deputy mayor – the Kulanu leader’s brother, Kobi Kahlon – paved her way to the new party, and the rest is history: Azaria – a religious woman, a feminist and a mother of four – will likely be an MK before Passover.
A former deputy mayor who obtained a seat in the Knesset a few years ago is MK Uri Maklev of United Torah Judaism, who is running for the 20th Knesset as well. In Maklev’s party, the spiritual leaders of the haredi community decide who will go to the city council and who will sit in the Knesset, based mainly on the interests of various haredi factions. He moved to the Knesset eight years ago, but has remained in close contact with his peers at Safra Square.
One of the Jerusalem residents in the Likud Party is MK Ze’ev Elkin. Born in 1971 in Kharkiv in the former Soviet Union, he served as deputy foreign minister and then became chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Elkin was elected to the 17th Knesset in 2006 as a member of Kadima, but in 2008 upon deciding Kadima was too leftwing, joined the Likud.
Erel Margalit, the “golden boy” of the Jerusalem Venture Partners firm, worked with Kollek for years in hi-tech development for the city. An MK with the Labor Party since the 2013 Knesset elections, he is looking to resume his position after March 17. Margalit has been a potential mayoral candidate a few times, but he ultimately aimed higher and went to the Knesset. The needs of the city are of great concern to him, and he is one of the three chairmen of the Knesset’s Jerusalem Lobby, together with Maklev and Labor MK Nachman Shai.
Mickey Levy (who lives in Mevaseret) was a well-respected chief of police in the capital during the second intifada. Despite his popularity, which augured a good chance of his being elected mayor, he decided not to run and ultimately joined Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party. He has been an MK since 2013.
Gila Yashar, No. 4 on the Uvizchutan list, is a mother of seven and has been living in Jerusalem for more than 20 years. She is known in the press as “G,” the woman who waited four years to receive a get from her husband and was handcuffed to her hospital bed on the orders of the rabbinical courts. Yashar previously worked in the Jerusalem Municipality, dealing with school dropouts.
Uvizchutan, headed by Ruth Colian, is the first haredi women’s party and was formed by women from that sector frustrated by the refusal of the established ultra-Orthodox parties to allow females in their ranks. It is not expected to receive enough votes to win seats in the Knesset, but is garnering attention nonetheless.
Rabbi and Bayit Yehudi MK Eli Ben-Dahan, who was director-general of the country’s rabbinical court system for 21 years, tried more than a decade ago to introduce some innovations to help manage the court’s bureaucracy.
MK Ahmed Tibi, originally from the village of Taiba and a Jerusalem resident for many years, closes the list as a member of the new Joint (Arab) List, which comprises four Arab parties.
Representatives of the Shas and Joint List parties did not respond to a request for interviews.
A few days before the elections, In Jerusalem asked eight candidates from different parties five questions.
RACHEL AZARIA
NO. 5 ON THE KULANU LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
Jerusalem is a microcosm of Israel. Seven years of local politics in Jerusalem taught me how to deal with the diversity and complexity of Israeli society. Jerusalem is a central part of who I am, and it will play a central part in my candidacy.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Of course. I started my political career by founding the Yerushalmim movement, with the goal of making Jerusalem a better city, and that’s what I’m planning to do in the Knesset as well. After the elections, I will continue to chair the Yerushalmim movement from the Knesset, and I certainly see myself as a representative of Jerusalem.
Moreover, by working in the Knesset on behalf of Jerusalem, I know that I will be strengthening Jerusalem, as well as my local party.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
There are several ways of lowering the cost of living in Jerusalem that I realized I wouldn’t be able to [implement] from the local arena, but I’ll be able to do so on the national level. The issues I’ll advance through Kulanu are housing, early childhood costs, and of course, creating jobs. I will be involved in the large-scale projects regarding Jerusalem, making sure to present the Jerusalemite point of view and not only the bird’s-eye view.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Reuven Rivlin. Like me, President Rivlin started his career as a city councillor. I admire his honesty and integrity and regard him as the model of a politician who represented his electorate respectfully and is a source of pride for our city.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
Katamonim, my neighborhood. In my job, every moment at home is precious, so that is definitely my favorite place. Katamonim is a diverse and pluralistic neighborhood with a great pulse and rhythm, and I love living there.
ZE’EV ELKIN
NO. 8 ON THE LIKUD LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
Jerusalem is always at the heart of my concerns. I care and act at all times for its sake and prosperity, including as the president of the Jerusalem Lobby in the past.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Yes, of course, especially in regard to the budgets the city needs to obtain.
What would be the most important of Jerusalem’s affairs for you to promote?
I’d say I will focus on the city’s urgent need for construction for young couples and families – that would have to be on the east side of the city, since all the lands available in the west have already been used. The second issue would be employment opportunities; we need more hitech in Jerusalem, and while the mayor is doing his best on that issue, it is clear that there is a need for governmental action. I think we also need to bring back law and order [in east Jerusalem] – something that can be achieved through education, by putting an end to the present situation in which public schools financed by the municipality are free to teach the Palestinian curriculum.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Former MK Geula Cohen, who, thanks to her bill [in 1981], maintained the status of Jerusalem as a unified city. I met her, I admire her, and she is a mentor for me.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
Everywhere in Jerusalem is a place I love, but if I have to single out one, it would be the Old City – particularly the narrow streets there, and the roofs from which one can see the Temple Mount.
MK ELI BEN-DAHAN
NO. 4 ON THE BAYIT YEHUDI LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
I know very well what the needs of the city are.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Certainly. [I will deal with] security issues – the personal security of the residents, which has been shaken recently – developing the city in various ways, employment, housing, culture and religious services. This is what I managed to do in the current Knesset, with the election of two chief rabbis to the city, and the renovation of synagogues and mikvaot.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
I would put an emphasis on promoting construction in all parts of the city, as much as I can. I would also deepen Jewish identity and the knowledge of Jewish history as it is manifested in Jerusalem.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
I choose the late Shmuel Meir, who was my friend and served as deputy mayor in Jerusalem. [He] devoted his life to the success and development of the city, and put an emphasis on Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem and the Old City, which until then were “extraterritorial.”
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
I love being at the Haas Promenade, from which one can see the Temple Mount and the site of the Temple, the heart of Jerusalem.
MK MICKEY LEVY
NO. 11 ON THE YESH ATID LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
As someone who grew up in the city and served as its police chief during one of its worst periods – the second intifada – I gave most of my life to Jerusalem and its residents, to find solutions and bring back calm and quiet at the holy sites, between haredim and secular residents, Jews and Arabs. I know the city inside and out.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
I’ve done that already in the present Knesset, and I will certainly continue to do it in the next Knesset. During the past two years, as deputy finance minister, I had the opportunity more than once to deal with [the capital’s] affairs, helping with budgets for the city and supporting its projects.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
Promoting peace in Jerusalem.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Teddy Kollek.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
The Old City, the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter – in all these locations lies the history of the People of Israel.
MK URI MAKLEV
NO. 4 ON THE UNITED TORAH JUDAISM LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
I served for nearly 15 years on the Jerusalem City Council, I live in Jerusalem, and even after being elected to the Knesset, I have continued to act for and serve the city’s interests.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Of course, and that is what I have done throughout these past years. I will put, as I [already] have, an emphasis on employment and on the need for construction in order to prevent young families’ migration from the city. I have served as the chairman of the Jerusalem Lobby, and I am highly involved in the needs of Jerusalem, which I know well.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
Certainly I will invest time and attention in promoting understanding among the different communities in the city. Also other issues that need attention and budgets, like health – with the crisis in the Hadassah hospitals – security issues, and the need for more educational institutions and community facilities.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Throughout history, and specifically for the past 200 or 300 years, Jews have lived here, suffered from so many terrible things – attacks, hunger, isolation – [but] they have never given up on staying here. There were spiritual leaders who strengthened them; they suffered terribly but never left, because they wanted to remain in Jerusalem against all odds. These are my role models. But of course, more recently, there have also been some leaders in the city administration – they all have their merits.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
Clearly the holy sites – the Temple Mount and the Western Wall – the place toward which the eyes of the entire Jewish People are looking. And not only Jews – Christians, too, who barely know what Israel is, know the name of Jerusalem and have heard about the Temple Mount and the Kotel.
GILA YASHAR
NO. 4 ON THE UVIZCHUTAN LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
Jerusalem is the beating heart of Israel. It grounds us and connects us to our roots. I wake up every morning in the capital city of Israel and see people from all walks of life surrounding me and interacting, and I am reminded of my mission on my way to the Knesset – to represent these people and ensure that we all have a better tomorrow together.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Of course, Jerusalem has a special place in my heart, and I will always represent its needs, especially the needs of all the women who live in Jerusalem and work hard to raise their families and make ends meet.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
Jerusalem has to become accessible to the handicapped as quickly as possible. As a mother of a child with 100 percent disability, I know how difficult it is to maneuver the streets of Jerusalem. All residents should be able to enjoy our beautiful city safely.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a long-time Jerusalemite, is my model. His deep respect for human beings from all walks of life, regardless of background, has always inspired me to be a better person and inspires me to be a good, caring politician.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
The Kotel, the last remnant of the Temple, a place where all Jewish people congregated together. It is a place that symbolizes unity, hope and tolerance. It is my wish to embody those values in the Knesset so that the feeling of peace and calm that I feel when I visit the Kotel emanates from the Knesset and spreads throughout Israel.
MK EREL MARGALIT
NO. 12 ON THE ZIONIST UNION LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
I was born in Kibbutz Na’an but have been living in Jerusalem since I was 14. I attended university here, my wife and I raised our three daughters here, I built my business (Jerusalem Venture Partners) here, I created Hama’abada (now known as Zappa) to advance culture in the city at a time when there was so little of it, and my wife and I started Bakehila, a social-educational nonprofit organization that works in six disadvantaged neighborhoods and has helped more than 25,000 children to complete their schooling.
Jerusalem is very near and dear to my heart. It was before I became a Knesset member and remains so for me as a public figure. My vision for Jerusalem is one that is forward thinking because Jerusalem is a microcosm of Israel, and the future of the country is very much connected to Jerusalem – as our capital but also as pluralistic, open, creative and tolerant city.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
I am the co-chair of the Knesset’s Jerusalem Task Force and have represented Jerusalem on many levels and will continue to do so.
Affordable housing is a crucial issue that will keep young families in the city. I want to revive the city center as a thriving neighborhood. I believe in strengthening Hadassah Hospital so that it remains a world-renowned center of excellence for health care and research. And because I believe in the important role of public broadcasting to a thriving democracy, I want to revive the Israel Broadcasting Authority here in the city so that it will not only keep jobs in Jerusalem but create new ones. We must ensure that security threats are dealt with effectively, while respecting the delicate fabric of our coexistence. And we must take care to reduce tensions so we can all continue to cherish the city we share.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
All too often we talk about the borders of Jerusalem, but I prefer to talk about the content of Jerusalem. It should be a creative hub, economically, spiritually, academically, socially. It should and can be a center of excellence for health-care research. It should and can be a center for architecture, design and media, particularly with Bezalel’s relocation to the center of town. It should and can be a place that produces new ideas, innovation and technology and creates small businesses, which are the lifeblood of a thriving economy. It should and can be a place where we develop new areas in the city, preserve the old, combine it with urban renewal and create new content that reflects the uniqueness of Jerusalem.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
Mayor Teddy Kollek, for whom I worked at the Jerusalem Development Authority. Teddy built more in this city than anyone else, yet he did it in a way that respected all Jerusalem’s residents because he understood the complex mosaic that makes up this special place. To Teddy, Jerusalem was not only the capital of the State of Israel and of the Jewish people, but it was – and must continue to be – an international city. He ensured that it remained open and tolerant to people of all faiths, and he treasured its diversity.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
I love Ein Kerem, where I live, but I also love the old Bezalel campus in the center of town on Shmuel Hanagid and Bezalel streets. There is such a unique blend of history there. The Architecture Faculty is housed in those buildings, and the area has become a flourishing area for artists.
MK YONI CHETBOUN
NO. 2 ON THE YAHAD LIST
What place does Jerusalem hold in your decision to run for the Knesset?
Jerusalem is the heart of hearts of the Jewish People, the source of our heritage. During 2,000 years of exile, the Jewish People prayed to return to Jerusalem, and we continue to pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
To a large extent, the longing for Jerusalem is what preserved our national heritage as an exiled nation and is what returned us to our land to build the Jewish state.
For me, Jerusalem also constitutes to a large extent the heart of my decision to run for Knesset. Not in the municipal sense as a resident of the city but in its place as the essence of our national story as a nation that returned to its land. I entered political life to make Israel a better place – morally, security-wise, socially and economically – to make Israel more “Jerusalemite” in terms of the realization of the hopes of generations and the longings of 2,000 years of exile to build a state for the Jewish nation.
Once you are in the Knesset, will you be a representative of Jerusalem (beyond your other obligations)?
Beyond being a symbol of [the nation of] Israel’s return to its land, Jerusalem is also a microcosm of life in the State of Israel. The social complexity, the security problems and the varied and impressive mosaic of Israeli culture can be seen in Jerusalem. To a large degree, the way life looks in Jerusalem is the way it will look in the whole of Israel.
The question of sovereignty in Jerusalem and tackling the security challenges directly influences the issue of Israeli sovereignty and our national security capabilities. The social and economic issues [faced] in Jerusalem directly influence life in Israel. In the end, Jerusalem is an essential ingredient in life in Israel as a whole. As a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, I dealt with Jerusalem’s security issues in the [current] Knesset, and I will deal with them in the next Knesset, please God.
If you were asked to promote Jerusalem affairs in the Knesset, which ones would they be?
As I said, security issues. Israel’s handling of Jerusalem’s security challenges will affect our general strength as a people and a state.
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, so the way we act in Jerusalem will directly affect our ability to deal with security threats, be they from the north or the south.
What Jerusalem political figure (past or present) is a role model for you?
King David, definitely. As an officer and a captain who fought on all fronts of the IDF’s wars over many years, the figure of King David as the founder and builder of Jerusalem was a compass for me in navigating Israel. A fighter in the IDF must fight with all his soul for Israel’s security on the one hand and must carry a significant moral burden on the other. We are fighting for our life as a nation, something that obligates us to take a resolute stand. On the other hand, we aim for a moral position of the highest standards, socially and economically.
King David for me is the best example of that combination.
What is your favorite place in Jerusalem?
The Western Wall, the remains of our Temple. This is the place we hoped and prayed for during 2,000 years of exile; it’s the Jerusalem we longed for as a nation exiled from our land and our eternal capital for which we survived as a nation and to which we returned to build our state after years of wandering.