King’s downfall

The dismissal of a city councillor for taking the municipality to court is not unprecedented, but is it justified?

By PEGGY CIDOR
Arieh King campaigning at Mahaneh Yehuda. Does the city council owe its allegiance to its own aims or to its members’ voters? (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Arieh King campaigning at Mahaneh Yehuda. Does the city council owe its allegiance to its own aims or to its members’ voters?
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
 For veterans of city council proceedings, it was just a matter of time, and it seems that time has come – councilman Arieh King (United Jerusalem) was dismissed last week from all his duties and authority by Mayor Nir Barkat, after a little less than a year in the coalition. Earlier this week, King sounded calm and confident that he did the right thing, and gave no sign of reconsidering his position.
Technically speaking, King was dismissed because he petitioned the Jerusalem District Court against Barkat and the city council’s approval of a plan to build 2,200 housing units in the Arab neighborhood of Sawahara. Barkat made it clear in his first term that he would not accept any petitions against the municipality by city council members. Three years ago, it was Rachel Azaria (Yerushalmim) who was dismissed from the coalition and all her duties, following her petition to the court against gender segregation in Mea She’arim.
Accordingly, King should have known that his petition against the plan to build houses for Arab residents would automatically end his short time within the consensus of the coalition. In his case, one could say that not only was the writing on the wall, but it was clear to King that he was not going to last long inside the coalition headed by someone he criticized so much during his campaign.
The major question remains – beyond the fact that rules are necessary to ensure law and order – is what it says about this coalition. Is it a solid one that can afford the dismissal of its members here and there, or does it mean that once the elections are over and the coalition formed, the only thing that matters is the mayor’s point of view? And now that King is out, the road to the coalition is paved for the Meretz members (Pepe Alalu and Laura Wharton), who declared right after the election results that they would never share the coalition benches with King. If King is out, is Meretz in (again)? Asked about such a possibility, Alalu answered that in any case the party’s members will decide.
Officially, that is the procedure. The question is how Alalu can explain to his voters that exactly when Barkat is implementing Meretz’s will – namely to build houses for Arab residents (with all the requested permits and plans) he is still sitting in the opposition, while King, who opposed the move, which he described as a reward for Arab lawbreakers who build illegally, was sent out? But there is even more than these issues.
Although politics is usually not the perfect place to look for values and ethics, the question of solidarity between members of the city council should be nevertheless asked. More precisely, the question that should be asked would be – is it right (however legal) that a city council member should be dismissed because he or she acted on behalf of his or her voters? In other words, what comes first, an obligation towards the residents or towards the coalition’s aims? In the former city council, the firing of Azaria made a lot of public noise. Barkat was accused of bullying her, of acting out of personal anger and the like. Azaria, who in fact brought her case against the police and only for procedural reasons, included the municipality in her appeal, lost her position, but earned a much more rewarding one as a victim of her noble principles and became a champion of gender equality overnight. She was and is indeed genuinely dedicated to the issue of preventing gender segregation, but Barkat’s unpopular move brought that knowledge largely to the public, including overseas, which, eventually, was to her benefit. But now that King is meeting the same fate, Azaria, quite surprisingly, issued a public statement congratulating Barkat for this decision.
Solidarity, you said?