This Week in Jerusalem: Peggy Cidor’s round-up of city affairs

A look at local stories from the capital.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Hanukka (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Hanukka
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A memorial vandalized
The Jerusalem Police are investigating the vandalism of a Holocaust memorial between Kibbutz Tzora and Moshav Eshta’ol.
The bronze monument depicts the story of the people of Israel from the Holocaust through the State of Israel’s rise after World War II.
Inaugurated in 1972, the monument was the work of Warsaw-born sculptor Nathan Rapoport. Students from the Sha’ar Hagai Field School discovered the vandalism while on a tour in the area last week and reported it to the police.
Last warning for CityPass
The Transportation Ministry and the municipality have issued a joint warning letter to the CityPass company, which operates the light rail, ordering it to complete the repairs on the rail segment in the Shuafat area. If CityPass does not carry out the work immediately, the letter says, the ministry will confiscate the company’s deposit.
Since rioters damaged the light rail stations and tracks in Shuafat over the summer, CityPass has been asked repeatedly to implement the necessary repairs. Although such repairs are part of the company’s obligations under its the contract with the government and the municipality, nothing has been done so far, and the situation has greatly inconvenienced light rail passengers.
CityPass has responded by requesting to postpone the repair work until it receives the compensation payments from the tax on damages, but the ministry rejected that request. The guarantees in the hands of the government amount to NIS 1 million, and according to the warning, CityPass has exactly a month to do the work before that sum is confiscated without further notice.
Next departure?
Is another deputy mayor on his way out of Safra Square? Sources at the municipality say that supermarket mogul Rami Levy might be the second deputy to do so, after Kobi Kahlon announced he was taking three months of unpaid leave to manage his brother Moshe Kahlon’s campaign for the upcoming national elections.
Levy – if he indeed leaves his municipal position – would join the Likud’s list for the next Knesset.
At present, other than the sources at the municipality, there are no indications of such intentions, but it is no secret that Levy has been an active member of the Likud Party for years.
Another active member of the party is Mayor Nir Barkat. Though he does not seem interested in any position other than his current one for now, he nevertheless met with Likud activists in the city last week.
The meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place at Safra Square, was moved to the home of one of the participants after the municipality legal adviser remarked that such a political meeting was not allowed in the former location.
Hanukka on parade
The municipality is organizing a parade to celebrate Hanukka in the city. This Sunday afternoon, some 500 soldiers, who will be the guests of honor of Jerusalem, will march through the city’s streets, ending at the Jaffa Gate. Following the parade, there will be candle-lighting ceremony with a gigantic hanukkia.
The soldiers will receive a gift – shoes that US marines wear – courtesy of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice, which is participating in the parade. The organization aims to point out Hamas crimes to students on American college campuses, where the organization says hasbara (Israeli public diplomacy) is lacking.
Zionist lights
The Public Council for the Commemoration of Binyamin Ze’ev [Theodor] Herzl, part of the Prime Minister’s Office, invites the public – including children who are off of school for Hanukka – to visit the Herzl Center on Mount Herzl this Hanukka. Hanukkiot will be lit every evening, and there will be guided tours of the place with stories about the Zionist leaders.
Also on display will be an exhibition of comics by Amos Ellenbogen on the topic of Zionism, and a monodrama by actor Yefim Rinnenberg about Herzl’s life and dreams. All events will take place on Sunday and Monday next week. Entrance is free.
Authenticity in Contemporary Art
The Van Leer Institute and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design will be holding a joint event on the subject of authenticity in modern art this Sunday from 9:45 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Participating in the event will be the academy’s teachers, their guests and the school’s outgoing president, Prof. Eva Illouz.