On a mission

What has mayoral candidate Nir Barkat learned in his five years as opposition leader?

By PEGGY CIDOR
nir barkat great 224 88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi [file])
nir barkat great 224 88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi [file])
The first thing you might notice about opposition leader and secular mayoral candidate Nir Barkat is that he is always surrounded by young people. The second thing that might catch your attention is that quite a few of them are wearing kippot, and about half are female. So far, Barkat is the only candidate whose chief of staff is a woman: Michal Shalem. Shalem, a friend and neighbor of Barkat since the first days of the struggle to open the Leyada high school for registration to children across the city, is considered the person closest to Barkat besides his wife, Beverly. Unlike the previous campaign, when Barkat headquarters were stationed in a small location in the Talpiot industrial zone, this time he has chosen one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the city. The old house surrounded by a garden on Rehov Yehoshua Bin-Nun in the German Colony is modestly furnished. Instead of coffee from a sophisticated machine, Barkat offers cold water or instant coffee as our meeting begins. In the corridor leading to his office hang three shirts, ready for any impromptu interview or visit by a TV team. Indeed, during the meeting, Barkat excused himself, changed and returned 10 minutes later, sharp, focused and ready to pick up exactly where we left off. The feeling is that Barkat has become a "pro" at the political game, and while one can still sense here and there that he is reciting a text by rote, it is a text he has written himself and in which he deeply believes. Barkat has a detailed plan for almost any issue in the city, from traffic and transportation (he hopes to stop the light rail project, believing that buses are a better and cheaper solution), to education (last month he revealed his plan for improving the education system in the city, which is based on the creation of a private-public partnership fund), to the lack of job opportunities and affordable housing. For each area he has prepared options to solve the problems, confident that his connections in the hi-tech and business worlds together with his ties in the philanthropic world make him the best candidate to bring about real improvement. Additionally, for each topic, he has invited residents, supporters and experts to his home, to whom he has presented his respective plans, most recently his economic vision for the city. As for Barkat's plans for the education system, one cannot help but note the large number of religious Zionists among his supporters and partners. At a dialogue held at his house on the subject, Labor-Meimad MK Rabbi Michael Melchior opened the meeting, key remarks were given by Micha Goodman and Rabbi Shai Piron, both religious pedagogues, and a large part of the audience wore crocheted kippot. When it comes to the environment, Barkat believes that green issues are crucial for the sake of the city, and has even invited the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel's director of urban communities Naomi Tsur to fill the third slot in his list. Barkat himself says that he is not religious, but feels very close to the Jewish tradition and legacy. Around the time of last year's Annapolis conference, he began a campaign against the division of Jerusalem. Joining him in this effort was NU-NRP MK Zevulun Orlev. Also on the religious front, Barkat has been very active in pushing for a High Court ruling to appoint a chief rabbi for Jerusalem, making clear that his goal is to bring to the post Zionist rabbis rather than the haredi candidates who have prevailed until now. Last week, Barkat misstepped when he announced that he had obtained the official support of former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, a leader in the religious Zionist community. Although the declaration was promptly denied by Eliyahu's family, many other prominent figures in the religious Zionist camp do openly support Barkat. Asked if he was concerned his ties with religious Zionists and his views on maintaining a united Jerusalem would alienate potential secular and leftist voters, Barkat replies: "These are and have always been my real political opinions. I have never lied or hidden anything, it's just that this issue was not on the agenda during the previous elections." Close sources add that in any case, there's in no point in avoiding the religious right-wing camp in the city, "which are anyway the majority." SO WHO is Barkat 2008? Is he a wealthy, retired businessman looking to keep busy? Or a successful young man who cares for his city and is ready to improve things instead of complaining like so many others do? "I have learned a lot from these five years on the city council, it was a good school for me," opens Barkat, who sounds more eager than ever to "put order in the mess created by the current mayor and save the city." Barkat was born in 1959 in Tel Aviv and raised in Jerusalem. His parents gave him and his three brothers what he calls an "Israeli Zionist education." When asked why he doesn't simply stick to the philanthropic front rather than step into the politics ring, his answer is swift. "I am a proud Jew and Zionist," he says. "I am moved by a profound sense of shlihut [mission], deeply connected to the values of my Jewish and Zionist identity. "I see my job as helping the city stand on its feet," he continues. "I am convinced that when I become mayor, within a short time we will witness the phenomenon of people moving to Jerusalem, like my parents and many others in those days did." Barkat recalls the exact circumstances that brought him to Kikar Safra over six years ago. "People I knew, friends, came to me and told me that I should get more involved and do more than philanthropy to help the city. I asked my friend Eyal Arad, a well-known political adviser, about it. His first reaction was: 'Don't you dare step into that world - it's politics.' But at the same time, he added that if I did go for it, he would of course help me. "The following day, I went to a restaurant with my wife and discussed it... by the end of the dinner it was clear to both of us that I was going to do it. Since then, I have quit all my duties in the business world and have been exclusively occupied with Jerusalem." Until not so long ago, Barkat was part of the hi-tech world. After six years in the military (he served as a major in the paratroopers unit), he completed a bachelor's degree in computer science and a master's degree in business management, both at the Hebrew University. In 1988, with three partners, Barkat established the hi-tech group BRM, specializing in anti-virus software. Barkat and his associates quickly became successful, especially in the foreign markets. BRM became a "technological incubator" and invested in companies, including Checkpoint, for which Barkat served as chairman. Even before he ran for mayor, Barkat was very involved in educational projects, the most famous of which is Snunit, a non-profit organization he founded to advance the use of computers within the local elementary school system. In 2001, Barkat joined a group of American and Israeli hi-tech professionals in founding the Israel Venture Network with the goal of creating a "pluralistic and harmonious society through innovative and venture strategies." Soon after he was elected to the city council in 2003 heading the "Jerusalem Will Succeed" faction, Barkat founded the "Start-Up Jerusalem" non-profit, dedicated to encouraging investment and the creation of job opportunities in Jerusalem, and the "New Spirit" organization to try to keep young people in the city. Last week, New Spirit chairman Yakir Segev announced his decision to join Barkat's list to the city council. ONE OF the first local issues Barkat was involved in was local registration rules for middle schools. Upon discovering that his daughter couldn't register to the school of her choice - the Leyada high school - Barkat and a group of parents from his neighborhood of Beit Hakerem appealed to the High Court. The result was the creation of the Lavie Commission, mandated to check the situation on the ground and to propose adequate solutions. After more than two years of work - including the creation of a parents committee who objected to the liberal positions of Barkat and his group - the Jerusalem Education Administration (Manhi) approved the recommendations of the Lavie Commission and decided to open registration to all students. Today, despite this decision, registration is only partially open, since the choice can be made only within the part of the city to which students belong. Although Barkat admits that there is still room for improvement on the matter, he maintains that major progress has been made. The other issue for which Barkat has become known during his term in city council is cleaning up the city. Convinced that Mayor Uri Lupolianski, despite all his declared plans and programs, would fail to bring about positive change on the matter, Barkat created a special task force that, in cooperation with residents, take responsibility over the cleaning of their neighborhood. "Every resident can contact our headquarters and we will come and help - whether students or youth movement members - to clean the neighborhood instead of the municipality, which is not capable of delivering the basic thing it should: clean streets and [a clean] environment," says Barkat, who doesn't miss any opportunity to criticize Lupolianski and his administration. Barkat is also aware of Jerusalem's diverse communities and has created Web sites for Anglos and Russians. BARKAT, ONCE a Likud activist, and since its creation, a member of the Kadima party, raises some concern among Left circles in the city. "We knew he was not exactly a supporter of Meretz," says Meretz city councillor Pepe Alalu, "but this time, he's gone totally to the extremist positions of the extreme Right. This is something we cannot accept." Alalu even announced that he was seriously considering joining the race for mayor as the sole means left to "bring Barkat back to a more central position, otherwise our constituency will not be able to vote for him." Officially, Meretz voters do not share Barkat's positions, but many Meretz supporters in the city think otherwise. "Do we have any other choice?" asks a prominent Meretz member. "In any case, Barkat's political position on the issue of Jerusalem is irrelevant. Is he going to be part of any negotiation team? Of course not. On the other hand, he is honest, dedicated, he cares for this city and the residents, he believes in transparency in government, he cares for education, for development and the economic situation - what else can we ask for? We have had five years of a haredi mayor, wasn't it enough?" "I am very concerned," says veteran social activist and Labor Party member Tami Molad-Hayu. "My feeling is that I don't have a good list of candidates to choose from. I do not think that to vote for a candidate because he is secular and to refuse to vote for another candidate just because he is haredi is good or fair. I think we should look at the candidates and compare their capabilities and choose the best, not the least bad. "In the current situation, I feel all three of them [Barkat, MK Meir Porush and Arkadi Gaydamak] are second-best choices, at best," continues Molad-Hayu. "As for Barkat, of course he is an honest man and sounds very dedicated, but my concern is what kind of vision he has, and I'm not talking only about the political side. Barkat is a liberal, he will promote privatization, he believes in a small and clever administration. This is not what I believe in. I think that privatization is one of the worst things happening to Israeli society. "Also I don't understand him," says Molad-Hayu. "He presents himself as the secular candidate and then announces in the local press [in an interview with the local weekly Kol Hazman on July 11] that he is ready to close Rehov Bar-Ilan on Shabbat, something that even Uri Lupolianski didn't dare do. "Regarding his attitude toward the Arab residents of the city - well, what can I tell you? I know the figures: the arnona [property tax] rates in east Jerusalem are very high, whereas the municipal services these residents receive are close to nothing. So when Barkat talks about a 'carrot and stick' policy, I want to tell him that there are already enough sticks, perhaps it's about time we talk about the carrots." "I ran for mayor in the previous elections," says former municipal director-general Yossi Tal-Gan. "I was a candidate with a lot of experience in the way a municipality should be ran, and I thought then that Barkat was not ready for the job - he was young, had no experience, no idea how things work. "But today, my feeling is that he has done his homework," continues Tal-Gan. "First of all, he stayed [in the city council] after he lost to Lupolianski. During these five years, not only did he stay and work, but he was totally devoted to the city council, and today, my feeling as an ex-candidate is that he seems ready and suitable [for the position of mayor]. It's not that I'm working for him or calling [for people] to vote for him, but I think he's worked hard to get ready for the job." ONE OF the issues Barkat has been working hard on, both before and after he got involved in politics, is education. But despite all the accolades he has received for his involvement in the field, here and there Barkat has also seen criticism for his efforts. "Barkat makes large use of the presence of residents at city council meetings," says a Manhi source. "It's OK. Residents have the right and even the duty to attend city council meetings and to see who votes and how. But sometimes my feeling is that Barkat is so eager to fight Lupolianski that he is not aware of the limits. "He once brought students and their parents, including a group of autistic children registered in a regular school, to protest against a decision of the municipality. Lupolianski decided to cancel the meeting. One minute later, the children were sent to a sit-in in front of his chambers. Some people saw this as an exploitation of the children, something a candidate for mayor shouldn't do, whatever the matter at stake is." Barkat has also been criticized for his lack of leadership within his own list. Less than two years after the 2003 elections, the six-member list split in two, leaving Barkat with only two members. Besides that, he was not always successful in leading all 11 members of the opposition, who on a few occasions, did not back his recommendations. "What can I say?" says Barkat. "It's true: I admit that I was new in this business, and I was not always aware of the way things had to be conveyed. I learned my lessons, and that's the most important part of it." Despite criticisms and missteps along the way, Barkat has no doubts that he will be elected mayor this time around. The polls are clearly in his favor, and even the latest news of Aryeh Deri's decision to join the mayoral race hasn't shaken his confidence. But sources close to him say that no one is complacent at Barkat headquarters. "They are very cautious, they are checking out every option and the last thing they will allow themselves is to be caught by surprise. Everything is taken into account, even a last-minute candidacy of Lupolianski, whose chances of beating Barkat are better than Porush's."