J'lem councillor: Take Kollek's name off city institutions
Request comes in light of declassified UK intelligence that Kollek aided British authorities in '40s.
By ETGAR LEFKOVITSkollek cigar 298.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A Jerusalem city councilwoman asked Mayor Uri Lupolianski on Thursday to remove the name of the late mayor Teddy Kollek from city institutions in light of newly declassified British intelligence information indicating he aided British authorities in their 1940s crackdown on the Zionist underground.
"All of his activity over many years does not take away from the horrible treachery that he carried out against his own people," City Councilor Mina Fenton (National Religious Party) wrote Lupolianski in a letter.
In the letter, a copy of which was sent to The Jerusalem Post, Fenton asks the mayor to place the issue on the agenda of an upcoming city council meeting.
The NRP is part of Lupolianski's coalition.
"During his tenure as mayor, Teddy Kollek worked unceasingly for the construction, development and and prosperity of the city, a Jerusalem Municipality spokesman said. He added that every city councillor had a right to express his opinion in every forum.
The MI-5 document confirmed that Kollek supplied the names of dozens of Jewish underground activists to the British, and helped in unsuccessful attempts to capture Menachem Begin, who led the Irgun from 1944 to 1948 and later became prime minister.
Kollek had always defended his actions against the dissident Jewish groups as necessary for the Jewish Agency and the Hagana to forge a state.
Kollek served as mayor for nearly three decades and helped create the city's modern landmarks - including the Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Foundation, the Jerusalem Theater, the Cinematheque, the Khan Theater and other cultural institutions.
He died in January at the age of 95.
