J'lem officials slam removal of Ir Amim info from Web site

It's wrong that details of NGO's city tour removed from J'lem municipality Web site while Gush Katif Museum info remains, officials say.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
city hall jerusalem 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
city hall jerusalem 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Senior members of the Jerusalem municipality pro-tested on Monday against a decision to remove information on a tour of the capital organized by the Ir Amim NGO from the municipality’s Web portal.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Yosef Alalo and Meir Margalit, a member of the municipality’s executive council, said in a joint letter to the municipality’s director-general, Yair Ma’ayan, that the decision to delete the section on the Ir Amim tour was unjust as information on other right-wing organizations remained on the site.
“We protest the unequal treatment of NGOs or organizations that organize tours, on which information appears on the municipal portal,” Alalo and Margalit wrote. “If you decide to remove Ir Amim from the site, all other organizations should also be removed, including Elad and the Gush Katif Museum,” they added.
In a press statement on Monday, Ir Amim said the decision to remove it from the portal had come in response to a request from city council member Yair Gabai.
“We demand your immediate response and expect you to act with the same swiftness with which you responded to councilman Gabai’s request,” the statement continued.
The Jerusalem Municipality told The Jerusalem Post in response that it “does not publicize political tours, whether they are organized by right-wing movements or left-wing movements.”
But a spokeswoman for Ir Amim dismissed that claim, saying that other right-wing organizations remained on the Web site.
“This is a severe step by councilman Gabai and the municipalitydirector-general, who are exploiting their authority for the scandalouspurpose of silencing voices that are different from theirs,” Ir Amimsaid. “The municipality’s Web site is a stage which has the role ofserving the general public. It is not the personal blog of a ...council member,” the NGO added.