J'lem mayoral candidate says haredim multiplying at fast pace and foresees Jcapital in haredi control.
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Jerusalem mayoral candidate MK Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism told a gathering of haredi supporters over the weekend that within 10 years, no city in Israel will have a secular mayor.
The inflammatory remarks were delivered in Yiddish at a private haredi election rally. They were taped and broadcast on the Channel 2 news on Sunday evening, with Hebrew subtitles.
A copy of the tape was also sent to The Jerusalem Post.
"Look what is happening here. It will not take a long time, 10 years, 15 years... and soon we will have to look for a secular candidate to run for mayor of a city," Porush said, noting that a haredi (Uri Lupolianski, also of UTJ) has served as the capital's mayor for the past five years and suggesting that city hall would remain under haredi control in the future.
"We are growing and multiplying at a fast pace and within 10 years there will not be a secular candidate at all in any city, except maybe in an abandoned village," he said.
"But... where our public is, once time there will be a modern Orthodox mayor and once time there will be a haredi mayor, but there will be no such thing as a secular mayor."
When asked about his remarks on Sunday night, Porush first denied making them. He then said he was talking about the connection between the haredi and the modern Orthodox publics, adding that the reality was that in a decade or 15 years it would be hard for secular candidates to be elected as mayor of Jerusalem due to the city's demography.
The veteran haredi legislator is running a distant second behind Jerusalem opposition leader Nir Barkat in the polls ahead of November 11's municipal election.
The remarks could deal a serious blow to Porush's campaign among non-haredi voters.
One-third of Jerusalem's 500,000 Jewish residents are haredi.
Barkat has said he wants the capital to have a Zionist majority.
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