Rosenheim, who until recently was vice president of the religious Bnei Akiva youth movement, is known to be a man very close to Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett.
By PEGGY CIDORNewly appointed Society and Youth Administration head Roni Rosenheim(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Officially, the decision of the municipality commission to select Roni Rosenheim as head of the Society and Youth Administration is compatible with the vision of Mayor Nir Barkat – for young, gifted and dedicated people to assume all the important positions at the city’s helm. And indeed, there is nothing in the CV of the newly appointed director that doesn’t fit in with this vision: He is young, educated, has management skills and, according to sources at Safra Square, is not considered to be too independent.But, of course, there’s more. He has the best credentials Barkat needs at the moment.Rosenheim, who until recently was vice president of the religious Bnei Akiva youth movement, is known to be a man very close to Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett.Oh, the wonders of politics! When Bennett served as Jerusalem affairs minister in the previous government, he had made Barkat lose his temper once in a while. Things were so bad between the two that last year, when the shuttle to the Old City leaving from the First Station parking lot was launched – a joint project of the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry and the municipality, with an annual NIS 100,000 contributed from Bennett’s office – Barkat didn’t even attend and left the opening ceremony to Bennett.Since then, many things have changed.Among them is a new place available for a close ally of Bennett, a position vacated by MK Yair Lapid. Bennett is obviously paving his way toward succeeding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the position is waiting to be filled. Barkat could easily fit in – as soon as he makes up his mind when he is ready to move from Safra Square to the national level.Barkat has repeatedly explained that although he is not rejecting the idea, he is, for the moment, totally here for the city until he announces otherwise.But some of his recent actions have brought observers at Safra Square and elsewhere to consider, with all due caution, that the time may have come. The highly publicized conflict between Barkat and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon about the special funds due to Jerusalem following the wave of terror was one of them. Barkat spoke not only as the capital’s mayor but also as a leader on the national level. The campaign itself was, at first glance, unsuccessful, and Barkat even apologized for his attacks on Kahlon. But the fallout remained in the media.Barkat is a member of Likud and, as such, has an obligation to be loyal to Netanyahu.But the road from Safra Square to Balfour Street may be long and winding, thus requiring some well-trained allies, such as one who already has some experience in the national political arena. In that aspect, Bennett has almost all the assets, and the past experience of an alliance with someone not expected to take on that role proved fruitful (and brought both Lapid and Bennett to their goals).And what about the Society and Youth Administration? Well, the newly appointed director has few merits, except for some experience with Jerusalem’s community network (a very special one) and some knowledge of the city’s communities and their specific needs and demands. He also has some knowledge of the city itself, such as what it means to be part of a community center that operates within the framework of a local neighborhood council – a local invention that enables very different communities to live side by side and for residents to bring their requests to the municipality through the 29 community centers that form the basis of the administration.He lives in Bat Yam, but has announced that he intends to move to Jerusalem soon.But plans for construction in the various neighborhoods, education, leisure and the special needs that need to be worked out and presented to the appropriate municipality departments? There is no question that Rosenheim has no idea about any of those.Not that he can’t learn, but it will take time, and that will be at the residents’ expense.But ah, yes… Rosenheim is a man of Bennett, and that’s an asset with which no one can argue, apparently.
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