Mayor to MK

‘Metro’ profiles six candidates who hope to draw on their local political experience in the 20th Knesset.

By SHULY WASSERSTROM, TAMARA ZIEVE, SAM SOKOL
Knesset (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Knesset
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Working for one’s local municipality is often a stepping- stone toward a seat in the Knesset.
Mayors and council heads face issues similar to the ones in the parliament, albeit on a smaller scale. Some mayors receive criticism for leaving their mayoral positions for the glory of the Knesset, while others are praised for trying to fight for their cities from Jerusalem.
With the elections approaching, Metro sat down with current and former mayors and council heads who are running for the 20th Knesset, to explore how their experience and backgrounds set them up to be successful members of the government.
MK Taleb Abu Arar
Head of the Arara Banegev local council, 2000-2004
No. 9 on the Joint (Arab) List
What can you tell me about your time as head of the Arara Banegev council?
In 2000, elections were held in the Negev, and I was the first elected council head of the region. The way I won was through building relationships with the residents and the public before the elections, and not only during the elections. I was in daily contact with the public to help solve problems if they needed me, so the year of the elections, I did not need to campaign especially hard in order to win.
After I was elected, what was important was that I maintained a good attitude, humility and transparency. The residents like to see the head of their council present and trying, even if they have not managed to accomplish everything they promised.
The good relationship was maintained with the residents as a result of responsible leadership. I was also in contact with the surrounding areas, and we cooperated and then slowly built the circle of acquaintance with the residents outside of my council.
Are there any specific important accomplishments from your term that you would like to discuss?
During my time as the head of the council, I kept a balanced leadership and raised a lot of funds for projects in the area. In 2003, I raised significant funds for community projects.
During my time as a leader, with those who worked under me, it was not an employee-employer relationship; rather, I was portrayed as the father of the community. And because of the good relationship and respect that I gave the council workers, it made peace among employees, who had more of an incentive to improve the services they gave – something that hadn’t happened before and hasn’t happened since.
Are you still involved in the council and leading the community?
I guide the council and closely follow the security situation there. Up until today, even, there are workers who come to me for help, and I assist them.
Do you represent the council in the Knesset?
To this day, they are trying to get me back to the council. There are a lot of people who are still angry that I left for the Knesset. I try to convince them that I can serve them even better [in the Knesset] than on the council.
Today I serve all mayors and council heads, and everyone has demands and issues.
I held meetings for cooperation between council heads in the Negev, and that is something that had never happened before, and in the meetings they were able to directly address their issues, and not through intermediaries.
Are you pleased that the Joint List has decided to run as one party again?
Certainly we have no other way [to combat] discrimination, to stand up against talk of transferring us and our land, and the home demolitions. In the past, the Israeli regime was quieter, but it has become more transparent, and now there is even a competition among the right-wing extremist parties over who is more extreme toward Arabs, who is more aggressive, who is more racist, and we have no choice but to stand firm against these attacks.
Would you be happy if [Zionist Union leader] Isaac Herzog became the next prime minister?
I do not think there is a difference between Herzog and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. I follow both [candidates’] speeches in the Knesset, and there is no difference between them, unfortunately.
MK Yael German
Mayor of Herzliya, 1998-2003
No. 3 on the Yesh Atid list
German served as health minister from March 2013 until December 2014, when Netanyahu fired party leader Lapid from his position as finance minister and the other party members subsequently left the government. During her term as Herzliya mayor, she was part of the Meretz Party.
How do you think your previous role as mayor affects your current work in the Knesset?
 There is no doubt that being mayor is an amazing school for anyone who wants to do public work. The mayor deals with a lot of areas, needs to know how to make decisions – and quick decisions – and most of all needs to know how to execute those decisions. We have five years, and that gives us time to learn, to plan and to implement – which you don’t have as a minister.
But regardless of time, which really is an obstacle for ministers, the decision- making process is very clear as a mayor. It helps so much afterward when you reach the post of minister, so I think I learned a lot from my previous role.
What do you feel you especially contribute to your party?
I don’t know if it’s special, but I brought with me experience and the ability to work, [as well as] what I did in the health system after I sat and learned for a year and then made a plan that I think any health minister could take and implement – obviously only if they have an appropriate social agenda, because the program was based on a public health system and public investment, [meaning] the state must invest more in the system and the public must pay less.
Of course, if the next health minister is someone like [United Torah Judaism MK] Ya’acov Litzman, who believes in private healthcare, then private expenses would increase and public spending would be reduced. I think that all the reforms should raise the level of public healthcare a level above what it is today and solve many of the problems that we witness today on a daily basis. I think that’s my main contribution to the public and the state.
Both you and your party received criticism that you promised reforms that you never implemented. What do you say to this?
First of all, we implemented one of the most significant reforms, which people don’t talk about so much but which is very impactful: I managed to implement – I didn’t finish, but I began – the reform to establish a state hospital authority for all the government medical centers. This is a subject that had been discussed for 25 years, and there are at least five or six government decisions on it, and at least two state comptroller’s reports, which discuss how the Health Ministry can’t be both the regulator and the owner of the governmental hospitals. I had the decision passed in the cabinet, I appointed a director who established the authority – though it’s true that now they are now getting under its feet in the Health Ministry and aren’t really providing her with staff, in part because I’m not there anymore and didn’t continue to push it. But I made it happen after years of decisions and lack of action, and this is one of the most significant reforms.
I also set up a national plan to prevent suicide – we passed a government decision and set up a unit in the Health Ministry, and I convened several other ministers, because we did this in cooperation with the Education Ministry, the Welfare and Social Services Ministry, the Senior Citizens Ministry, the Immigration Absorption Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.
We also signed on water regulations and on stopping fluoridation; we signed regulations to drastically cut pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables, which we worked on for a year in the Health Ministry. We started a reform in the treatment of people with disabilities, and we started a 24/7 service...for people in wheelchairs – we started to consolidate all the services they should be offered, so they won’t have to go from station to station, [applying to help from] the Welfare and Social Services Ministry, the National Insurance Institute and the Health Ministry.
We made decisions on rotations in hospital management, which was also a groundbreaking decision and to which there was a lot of opposition. We decided to establish another hospital in Beersheba, we brought five MRI machines to the periphery and accelerated the process for those [in the North] who need cancer treatment and radiation therapy so they will not have to go all the way to [Haifa’s] Rambam Medical Center and can receive treatment in the North, next to their homes, in Ziv Medical Center [in Safed].
We passed, on its first reading, the surrogacy law [for unmarried heterosexuals and same-sex couples], which I see as a groundbreaking law when we talk about equality. We passed a recommendation by the Board of Psychologists that conversion therapy for homosexuals in the religious sector is harmful. We made it possible for people who want sex changes to receive funding from their health funds. We financed the gay youth organization, and we brought back funding for anonymous HIV tests. I also worked on a recovery plan for the Hadassah University Medical Center.
These are all off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are many other things we did.
Do you want to be health minister again?
I think I have to be, because I currently have several reforms in the pipeline: There are reforms in insurance policies, which I need to implement so that people will pay less on double insurances and can choose between the insurances that they need and those that they don’t need, in a transparent way, that there will be a consistent policy both in the HMOs and in private insurances, so people can see that they have double policies and can cancel one of them. I have a reform in medical tourism, to ensure that tourists will not receive treatment at the expense of an Israeli patient – this isn’t a reform that will harm medical tourism, but just the opposite. And of course I have the reform...for which Yair Lapid allocated NIS 1 billion for 2014-2016, to [waiting times in public healthcare] and to shorten waiting times in emergency rooms and for reinforcing emergency rooms, which everyone complains about today. I have a plan and a budget that hasn’t been approved yet.
There is an additional NIS 4b. in the state budget for the health system, which passed the first reading but didn’t pass the second or third readings, because Benjamin Netanyahu decided to dissolve the Knesset before he passed the budget. It’s easy to say we didn’t do anything, but we did a lot in only one year and eight months. True, we did not manage to complete the medical tourism reform, which was met with heavy opposition, especially from Yisrael Beytenu, and we didn’t manage to implement the line-shortening reform, but we had a detailed plan.
By the way, we also have a reform to lower the prices of cosmetics and food. All these reforms are waiting for my return.
Changing the subject, when you were mayor of Herzliya, you were part of the Meretz Party. There are big gaps between Meretz and Yesh Atid. What caused this change?
It’s important to know that when I went into politics, my political home was Prof. Amnon Rubinstein’s Shinui.
The first time I joined politics was in 1988, and when Rubinstein joined Meretz, I followed him, but he and I always remained Shinui, even inside Meretz. That’s to say that we were also a center party, and when Yair founded his party, for me it was a return home.
Would you rather sit in a government with Netanyahu or Herzog?
I think that’s obvious. Look, you can’t ask me personally, because I don’t lead the party and our chairman says he is not boycotting anyone, and I agree with him, but we will do everything we can so that Netanyahu does not return as prime minister, because I believe that he failed.
For example, look at the State Comptroller’s Report on housing, which shows that the 32nd government, the previous government which we did not sit in and which he led – and he had four years and not a year and eight months like we had – knew about the problem and didn’t think to resolve it. Look at the two rounds of violence that we had in the South, look at our international isolation and the US president’s anger.
We think Netanyahu failed and must go home, and we will do everything to make this happen, but we’re not the ones who decide this, and therefore we can’t say what will happen in the elections.
Do you have anything to add?
I can say that the difference between being a mayor and being a minister is that a mayor has a lot of power – much more than a minister, because a mayor can determine the order of priorities on the budget. He can decide today that he wants to develop a park, and within a few years he can ensure that the park is developed, because it is he who activates the resources. Still, the ability to change the lives of citizens is much greater when you are a minister.
If I am really able to implement the reforms and to restore confidence in public health and to reduce private spending, then I think it will be a much more significant change than all the things I did as mayor. And I did a lot as mayor. I built a park, a Sportek [sports complex], a performing arts hall, and I increased the percentage of students who receive matriculation certificates, and that’s great, but it’s only within the confines of a city with 100,000 residents.
Do you still try to represent your city in the Knesset?
No, they don’t ask me. The new mayor manages the city, and he doesn’t consult with me. But if he did, then of course I would help. I really love the city and its residents.
Tali Ploskov
Mayor of Arad since 2010
No. 6 on the Kulanu list
Ploskov has been the mayor of Arad since 2010. She is an immigrant from Moldova and was the first woman from the former Soviet Union to be elected mayor in Israel.
Why did you decide to run for Knesset instead of continuing as mayor?
Because as mayor I encountered a lot of issues that were in fact dependent on decisions made in the Knesset. With the latest crisis I underwent with the closing of two factories in Arad, the existence of the factories was reliant on the Knesset and its decision only, and nothing happened, and the state actually sacrificed 200 jobs of Arad residents. I think it’s the type of crisis that people in the Knesset seemingly don’t understand – the reality that people in the periphery deal with – so we need as many representatives from the periphery as possible in the Knesset.
I thought if people who understand and have to deal with it are in the Knesset, it would be better to have them among the decision-makers. So I decided to fight for my city and other peripheral cities in the Knesset.
And how exactly do you intend to do this?
There are a few things that I want to change:
1. There are a few good laws that have been legislated, but no one ensured that they were backed up with the funds necessary to implement them. For example, the public buildings accessibility law – that in every city you have to make all the public buildings accessible. Great decision, but where will cities like Arad, Dimona and Ofakim get the money to implement this? No government office thought it had to give money to implement this law. A disabled person needs an elevator or a ramp, but to do this, you need financial support.
2. There aren’t enough laws about strengthening the peripheral towns. In Arad, education is better than in places in the Center. We invested a lot in the city, in education, in play areas for children, but if we don’t worry about employment, there won’t be anyone left in the periphery... so we need a program including strengthening the Negev and the Galilee. The Development of the Negev and Galilee Ministry only gets NIS 150 million. How can people strengthen the peripheral cities with this? They need to worry about employment. The factories are sitting on very expensive, strategic locations – we need to bring them to the South and to create jobs for people there.
And we need to give economic support to people who agree to move, so it is worth it for them. For example, I have a retirement home that wants to come to Arad – they need 20 nurses. You know we don’t have that in our area – the state must invest in qualifying people for it. We need a plan for both jobs [and] for people who choose to stay or to come. Don’t forget, this is 60 percent of the country and 10% of the population. We need to take care of them.
What position would you ideally want in the Knesset?
In order for me to get a position, we need to do very well. I’m No. 6 on the list. I would want the Interior Ministry or the Finance Ministry, or the Immigrant Absorption Ministry could be very interesting, because there is a lot of potential, and as someone who went through it, I understand the needs of people who move. Anything the state asks me, I would want to do. But I would prefer to do something I understand. I need a lot of tasks, or I’ll be bored.
You used to be linked to Yisrael Beytenu. Why did you move to Kulanu?
It’s true that for more than 10 years, I was in Yisrael Beytenu – but today I understand that the things that are close to my heart are less political and more socioeconomic. [I see] young couples where both partners work but don’t [make enough to] make ends meet; I see what is happening in the banks, and the monopolies and cartels, and how unfortunately young families leave the country because they don’t find respectable work or salaries and can’t manage in this country. It breaks my heart to see this.
In my eyes, the country is falling apart. I want to be much more active in this area, and therefore I decided to join [Kulanu chairman Moshe] Kahlon when he presented me with his program. I very much connected to it, and I want to make a change.
I won’t say one bad word about Yisrael Beytenu, and I wish them all the best, but everyone works where they can be the most efficient. I worked 16 years in a bank; I know exactly how the bank system works and what needs to be changed there. And I know that my party means to do it, and I truly believe in Kahlon – he is an MK who did something in his life, not just someone who talks and does nothing [and gives] populist and demagogic speeches. He is modest, knows what he wants and has proved that he knows how to do what he wants. Our list isn’t made up of people looking for a seat, but people looking to contribute to Israel. I am one of them, and I’m proud to be in this place.
What were your achievements as mayor?
Education in the city was a priority for me. When I started as mayor, the rate of high-schoolers who take the matriculation exams was 46%. Today in high schools, we have reached 80%.
In my eyes, this is a great achievement.
Our municipal library is outstanding.
Children from Arad have won Olympic competitions abroad, representing Israel – meaning, they’re the best in Israel.
I think education in the city was revolutionized under me, and I’m very proud of it, and I think this kind of change needs to be made on a national level.
We invested a lot in infrastructure, in Route 31 – in half a year, roadworks were finished and people could reach Arad safely on a road where people were previously killed and injured. I invested a lot in infrastructure within the city; we changed roads and built play areas.
I did everything for young families – I opened a youth center in an abandoned building, which we refurbished.... To my sorrow, the issue of the factories was not in my hands. I felt powerless. The state didn’t give the mayor the tools to deal with it. If we don’t solve this in the next year, all of Arad’s quality population will leave.
Don’t you feel in any way that you are abandoning your city during such hard times?
Not at all. Firstly, I have no intention of leaving Arad, and I will open my office in Arad when I’m in the Knesset. I want to help my city, and therefore I decided to progress [to the Knesset], because the only place that I can really help this city is from Jerusalem, where they make the decisions. If until now, no one spoke up for this city, then I will be the one to do so. We must save it.
Would you prefer to sit in a Netanyahu-led government or a Herzog-led one?
We say one thing: We have a very clear agenda, and our aim is to implement as much of our agenda as we can. There’s been enough talk about Left and Right – we need to take care of the people of this country, and whoever gives us the tools to implement our agenda for the people of Israel, that’s who we will be with.
Everyone understands today that we need to make a change on the socioeconomic level. Coming from a background of Yisrael Beytenu, of course I am personally more inclined toward the Right, but I’m sure that now we need to put aside things that are connected to Right and Left, and to worry more about the citizens.
Of course I have red lines, like everyone in my party. Of course we aren’t prepared to discuss dividing Jerusalem, or returning to the pre-1967 lines, or bringing back Palestinian refugees. We are in favor of negotiations, as soon as we have a partner. I believe that we still don’t have a partner, and I don’t believe that the other side is really interested in peace yet.
So we still need a lot of hard work, and it will take a long time. And we can’t forget the people who live in this country, who need to live in dignity.
MK Ya’acov Asher
Mayor of Bnei Brak, 2008-2013
No. 7 on the United Torah Judaism list
Do you think that your experience as mayor of Bnei Brak has helped you in the Knesset, and if so, how?
Yes, I absolutely think my experience has helped me. First off, in the last Knesset, I was the head of the local authorities lobby. And of course, being a mayor helped me a lot. When you come into something with knowledge, especially on a municipal level, it helps, because almost everything comes down to a municipal level. For example, the Interior Committee, building, education in schools, kindergartens, transportation.
A mayor is the contractor for all of those things, and without a doubt, if you come to the Knesset with actual experience, not just theoretical, you have an advantage.
Because there are a lot of very talented MKs who talk about things but only know them on paper – they haven’t actually experienced those issues or run a real city.
When a mayor comes and knows the system and every issue about law and local authorities, it helps him. For example, I sat on a committee about building, and I was the only committee member who had served as a mayor, and because of that, my influence and participation were very large, because I actually knew what was going on and the other members only had theoretical experience. Especially when it comes to changing laws and sitting on committees, being someone who comes from the field is very beneficial.
So would you say it’s easier to work with people who have a similar background to yours?
Absolutely, and I would really like to see more former mayors around me, because we definitely understand those needs. In a sense, in the Knesset, we complement the local authority.
Therefore, there are a lot of advantages when someone comes with that background. And there are many things besides national security that are very important to citizens, such as education, welfare and local crime rates, which stem from the local municipal level.
Do you still see yourself as representing Bnei Brak?
No, I now focus more on all of the local authorities, including Bnei Brak. But I don’t focus on Bnei Brak any more than any other city.
Is there anything special you accomplished as mayor that you would like to point out?
Well, I worked for the city for a long time, and my final stop was mayor.
But I would say that the most dramatic thing I accomplished was helping the city, which was in a financial crisis, out of debt. I managed to balance the budget, which was a big accomplishment.
Second, I helped build the Bnei Brak business center, which is the anchor of Bnei Brak’s economy.
Ilan Shohat
Mayor of Safed since 2008
No. 4 on the Yisrael Beytenu list
How has running a city impacted your work on the national level?
First of all, I think that mayor is a job that requires multitasking. I think that mayor is one of the jobs in which you have very close contact with the population. You live with them, know their problems, you work with them every day. You work with them on education, you work with them on socioeconomic problems, on security, on emergency situations, on building permits. So if you take a mayor... especially from the periphery of Israel, you find a person who knows all the problems of Israel from the citizens’ side. So as a mayor, you are more than a Knesset member, because you come with experience, you come from the field, and you come from the side that sees the problems from outside the box. So I think it’s a blessing when mayors run politically.
If you ask me why I am running for the Knesset, it’s because I understand that as a mayor, I see... a lot of MKs doing things without knowing what the effect on the population will be, and I think the experience that I have in Safed and what I did there – for example, how to bring [the country’s fifth medical school] to the periphery, and how to raise about $6m. from friends in the United States, and how to leapfrog in socioeconomic rankings...and when you get the award for being No. 1 in education in the whole country for two high schools – when you come with experience and you are in a position in the government, I think you know what you are talking about and how to do it and cut out all the bureaucracy.
Is the government responsive enough to local needs, considering that we have lists and not local district representatives like America does?
Of course.... The system in Israel that a local Knesset member cannot represent his home town is a paradox, and he has no accountability to the people who elected him. I think that is what [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Liberman did when he put me at No. 4 on the list, knowing my relationship with the North of Israel. Everybody chooses people from ethnic groups or based on their professions – if they come from the army or police – but Liberman made a decision that he wants people from the periphery in the Knesset. People can test me and vote for me again if I do things for them.
When Dov Lipman entered the Knesset from Beit Shemesh, he said he wanted to be Beit Shemesh’s congressman. Do you feel the same way about Safed?
No. I can’t be. If he said that for his local people, it’s okay, but you have to understand that when you come to the Knesset, you need to see the region. You need to see the whole picture... how the whole area [looks] from a satellite.... I want to give you one example.
If you want to know how the government thinks about the periphery, you need to check the budget of Development of the Negev and Galilee Minister Silvan Shalom. When you look at this budget, you find that it is NIS 120m. It’s a joke... and it’s shameful for the country, the way the country [views] the periphery.
For example, my budget in the Safed Municipality is NIS 200m., so if we want to make a big change in Israeli society, I think we need to start with the periphery of Israel, and one of the things I want to do is take NIS 1b. [as development of the Negev and Galilee minister and use it to transform the area].... This is a game-changer; this is a thing that says we are going to work for the people in the North and in the South, and nobody says that. Nobody says that because they are scared and because maybe... it is not important for them, and at the end of the day, I believe that they don’t understand the meaning of NIS 1b. for [these areas].
A mayor who works every day with the people and their problems, he can understand what NIS 1b. can do for the Galilee and the Negev. It’s not specific to Safed; it’s for the whole Galilee and the whole Negev, and when someone does that, you can see the change and the revolution that the country is going to undergo, because a stronger Israel depends on how Israel takes charge of the weak links in the chain.
Do you find it easier to work with other politicians who have experience on a local level?
Yes, of course. When you find an MK in the Knesset who was a mayor, he’s your first contact, because he understands you and you understand him.
When I meet a mayor, I don’t need to speak; he knows what I need to do, I know what he needs to do. And I think that we can build a coalition of mayors, particularly those from the periphery, and we can make it bring another point of view on things to the Knesset and the government.
MK Meir Cohen
Mayor of Dimona, 2003-2013
No. 4 on the Yesh Atid list
Cohen also served as welfare and social services minister in the 19th Knesset.
How does your previous work affect your work in the current Knesset?
When you’re a mayor who comes to the Knesset, you come with experience – you come with managerial experience, you know the systems, how they work.... I was appointed a minister right away....
As a mayor, the process of making decisions is a lot faster; you also see the change a lot faster than on the national level....
At any given time, you have to be in touch with heads of local councils. If you come to a certain town – for example, I came to Jerusalem and spoke with the mayor, and we had a common language. He did not have to explain to me what difficulties he had.
I know exactly what the difficulty is, so we could promote welfare- related things, things related to human resources. I don’t have to learn how a city is run and where I can help.
In France, for example, most of the MPs were former mayors, as were most of the ministers. There’s something in the training you receive as mayor – it’s better training.
Is it easier for you to work with people from other parties with similar backgrounds to your own?
Yes, certainly. I have to say that working with mayors from other parties is also easy. This means you instantly form a kind of “mayor lobby” [with other former mayors such as] Yael German and Ya’acov Asher... you have a common denominator.
Therefore, in the Knesset, it doesn’t matter what party you’re from... we’ve always tried to promote decisions after consulting with mayors.
Has your experience impacted your campaign?
Yes, my campaign was influenced by my having been mayor of a place like Dimona. I’m coming with [experience working in] the field, so I’m also the “field commander” for the Yesh Atid Party, since I know more about and am more comfortable with [going out and] approaching the people – with reaching the smaller towns. I can [connect with] the periphery; I try to bring our agenda to every place in the country.
Do you see yourself as a local representative of your town?
Oh, yes. I understand the way Dov Lipman feels [in regard to his hometown], and I definitely see myself as a representative of the Negev and as a representative of the periphery. I saw myself as a representative of the weak, so I chose to be welfare and social services minister.
I saw myself as someone who had to make the voice of the weaker people, of the periphery population, of minorities, of the Beduin who live in the Negev and the Galilee heard. Definitely when you come from a small place, you carry with you a desire to be an authentic emissary of the people who sent you.
I can also testify that Dov always presented the issues of Beit Shemesh – the tensions between secular and ultra-Orthodox. He brought this complexity to the Knesset table.
Is there anything else you want to add?
One of the things I would like to add is that the more [time I spend] in national politics, which are dirty, the more I see how much good people are lacking in politics, and how much I encounter very cynical sentiments [about politicians] – that politics is a site of corruption, that politics is not a good place [to be].... I feel that we have to change the public’s attitude toward politics.
This is a very complex issue today, when I am traveling to thousands of conferences and meetings in private homes as a Yesh Atid member and convincing people, I encounter such cynicism, which has really worried me. There is a big disconnect between politics and the public.