City council candidates on both sides of the political divide are refusing to endorse Nir Barkat.
By PEGGY CIDORanti-barkat posters 248.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
According to the latest polls, Nir Barkat is still the leading candidate, ahead of MK Meir Porush 46 percent to 38 percent.
But the game is not over: Barkat, who lost the 2003 elections by a relatively small number of votes due to lack of participation by secular residents, is facing another serious problem in the upcoming election.
The two camps from which he expected the most support - the secular Left and the religious Zionists - are exhibiting a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Certain Meretz candidates are distancing themselves from Barkat because they perceive him as too right-wing, while the National Union-National Religious Party has refused to endorse him on the grounds that it is not endorsing any candidate so as to not exclude itself from the coalition if its chosen candidate is not successful.
Meretz leader Pepe Allalu is still officially endorsing Barkat, but within his party and constituency things are moving in another direction.
"It is no secret anymore that we are having second thoughts regarding the endorsement of Barkat," says Meir Margalit, No. 2 on Meretz's list to the City Council. "Barkat or whoever the mayor is doesn't decide on the city's political future, but I find it impossible to vote for such a right-wing person. I just can't do it, whether he is really that right-wing or is just exaggerating his views to obtain the votes he needs."
According to Margalit, many secular leftists in the city share this feeling.
"I hear many of our traditional voters saying they would rather vote for Dan Birron or even for [Arkadi] Gaydamak, who has taken us by surprise with his declarations regarding the situation and the rights of Arab residents. Some friends have even commented that Gaydamak is in fact realizing our vision while we, Meretz members, are endorsing a right-wing candidate."
But Margalit backtracks slightly, saying he will vote for Barkat if he
believes there is a real possibility that there will be another haredi mayor. "According to all the polls, Barkat will win these elections, so he doesn't need my vote. I will not be the cause for having another five years of a haredi 'hardcore' mayor," he says. "But if there's a major change in the polls in Porush's favor, I will, even against my conscience, vote for Barkat. [Though] I am not ready to vote for a right-wing candidate - I would rather have a secular extremist than a haredi extremist."
As for NU-NRP, last Thursday this camp sprang a nasty surprise on Barkat. The current leader of the NRP, Deputy Mayor Shmuel Shkedi, who is not running in the elections but still strongly influences his constituency, announced his support for Porush.
"Barkat hasn't done anything remarkable until now," says Shkedi. "He remembered us, the religious Zionists, only about a year ago when he realized, thanks to his political advisers, that he was going to need [our votes] to win the election. This is not enough for me, for us. We've already been there - politicians who understand that they cannot achieve their goals without us and who suddenly tell us the things we want to hear. We already experienced that with [prime ministers Ariel] Sharon and [Ehud] Olmert. Note that Barkat is working with exactly the same political advisers who worked with Sharon and brought him to the decision on the expulsion from Gush Katif, and later worked with Olmert, so we don't trust him."
To the remark that candidate Porush represents a constituency that doesn't exactly hold the religious Zionists in high regard, Shkedi responds, "True, I'm not happy with Porush's candidacy, either. I am very concerned that we failed to run a religious Zionist candidate, and I am personally ready to reconsider this situation before the next election. But for now, that's all we have. I trust Porush on two issues: He delivers the goods; and when he was in charge of the Construction and Housing Ministry and before that, as Teddy Kollek's deputy, he managed to prevent any decision that could harm the unity of the city - that's already not bad."
Shkedi concedes that the mayor's political positions have no impact; but, he says, "There's a world outside, and if the mayor of Jerusalem goes to Annapolis or Camp David or whatever location and says that the city shouldn't be divided, people who make a difference can hear him. It can be crucial for the city's fate."
Both Shkedi and Margalit admit that what the city needs most now is a mayor who can improve many local issues, such as culture, education, cleaning the streets and bringing a solution to the traffic nightmare. Still, for both these local politicians and, according to them, for a large part of their constituency, the political "color" of the candidate matters more.
"I don't understand these people," says former Meretz city councillor Anat Hoffman. "What does it matter what this candidate or the other thinks about the political status of Jerusalem? How does that affect the situation on the ground? We have a city to clean, young residents to keep here with affordable housing and jobs, an education system to turn into an attractive one, a culture department that urgently needs a director and additional funding, a city that has to become attractive for secular and Zionist residents, and a haredi takeover that must be stemmed - what does that have to do with Barkat's opinions on the status of the Temple Mount? Does he decide to build a new neighborhood in a crowded Arab area? Of course not!
"But he is honest, he means well, and he is the only one who can liberate this city from the haredi stronghold. But these people act as if they are blind and deaf and will bring on us five more years of one of the most extremist sectarian mayors possible," she concludes.
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