Council coup, No. 1 At last week’s city council meeting, the first item on the agenda was the Local Committee for Planning and Construction’s decision to approve the Warburg project – a plan to build two pluralist education projects, the Secular Yeshiva and the Jerusalem Mechina, on a plot in Kiryat Hayovel. Since Kiryat Hayovel has become an arena of struggle between haredi and secular residents over the last few years, each side saw the project’s fate as a test of its own success in that battle. Mayor Nir Barkat has already announced his commitment to the project, and he opened the Thursday meeting reaffirming his pledge to develop projects and activities for the nonharedi residents of the neighborhood.But Barkat was soon to face one of the most painful defeats of his present tenure. It started with the noted absence of the two representatives of the Yisrael Beytenu list, Didi Hershkowitz and Masha Novikova. Deputy Mayor David Hadari and Edna Friedman of Bayit Yehudi both remained safely away from Safra Square as well. Yair Gabbai – a former member of that list who has since joined the local Likud branch – showed up, but despite being part of the mayor’s coalition, he didn’t support the move in his vote. And Elisha Peleg, a representative of the Likud on Barkat’s list, openly voted against the mayor’s proposal.As for the haredi city council members, all of them were present – the eight from United Torah Judaism and the four members of Shas. As such, they easily outnumbered the coalition and canceled the Warburg project. Now, unless the Interior Ministry’s District Committee for Planning and Construction decides otherwise, two haredi kindergartens will be constructed on the plot instead.Council coup, No. 2 The mayor’s defeat at the city council meeting last week was also an opportunity to predict what lay ahead in the local political arena. The vote on the Warburg project was the direct result of a well-prepared “coup” by the city’s new alliance: Yisrael Beytenu, United Torah Judaism and part of the local Likud branch. This alliance, which aims to establish a new order in the city, is running a candidate for the next mayoral election – Moshe Leon, who recently became an official member of the Yisrael Beytenu Party.The city’s haredi sector has been looking for a while for a candidate who will be more lenient regarding its demands; Deputy Mayor Itzhak Pindrus has never tried to hide this plan, presenting it for some time as “a legitimate move to obtain better conditions from [Mayor Nir] Barkat.” In other words, Pindrus was bluffing, in a way, when he said a year ago that he would seek another candidate to challenge Barkat; he hoped this threat would be enough to get a better bargain in a new coalition following this October’s elections.For unclear reasons, at some point, the bluff turned into a real attempt to replace Barkat, resulting in the unusual alliance between the haredim and Avigdor Liberman’s party, along with a part of the local Likud headed by Israel Kaufman, himself haredi. Together, these two and a half parties have the power to torpedo Barkat’s candidacy, which was expected, until less than a month ago, to be unchallenged and secure.Nonetheless, the word among Barkat’s closest supporters and assistants is that Pindrus’s triumph may well be a Pyrrhic victory.Referring to the Warburg decision at the end of last Thursday’s session, Barkat declared that “what happened tonight is a hint of what Jerusalem can expect if this new haredi-Liberman-Leon alliance succeeds in winning the city in the next elections.” Even Meretz city councilman Meir Turgeman, the most vociferous of the mayor’s opponents, admitted at the end of the meeting that if that was the case, he wouldn’t hesitate to join Barkat’s coalition.Time for sports Less than a week after the events of the last city council meeting, Mayor Nir Barkat and city councilman Elisha Peleg (Likud) exchanged polite greetings at a press conference on Sunday ahead of the Maccabiah Games. The 19th incarnation of the world’s largest Jewish sporting event – which many also consider the largest Jewish matchmaking event – will kick off on July 18 with a festive opening ceremony.The Jerusalem Municipality is expecting no fewer than 40,000 overnight guests at local hotels in honor of the participating athletes (there will be 9,000 sportsmen and women, from 72 countries), and this will bring some NIS 30 million to the city coffers. The capital will be hosting the games’ opening and closing events, as well as some of the competitions, thanks to the expansion of Teddy Stadium. Barkat even promised that by the next Maccabiah, in another four years, there would be an Olympic-size swimming pool in the city.In addition to the sports, there will be culture and leisure activities at the “Fan Zone” compound that the city will open for the benefit of the athletes and local residents.Some 34,000 spectators will attend the opening ceremony, headed by President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Barkat and guests from abroad.Mind the gap Barely two years after taking up his post, CityPass CEO Yehuda Shoshani has resigned. He has not explained his decision, apart from a declaration that he has “exhausted all interest in the position.”Observers say that he was committed to giving proper service to the passengers of the light rail, and tried to improve many aspects – including the fines and the rude attitude that many reported encountering from inspectors on the train. However, he apparently didn’t get enough support from the company to continue his efforts.Shoshani will leave his position as of September 1 and will be replaced by Israel Railways deputy CEO Yaron Ravid.Hate on film Tuesday is Tisha Be’av, which is linked to some of the most terrible events in Jewish history – including the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem.At Beit Avi Chai, the tradition of studying and watching movies relevant to this period will be continuing this year, under the title “Hating: Movies on Hatred in Israeli and International Cinema.”Throughout the day, the cultural center will present a series of documentaries, student films and dramas, all of which focus on hatred. A panel of public figures – including psychologist Avner Cohen, singer Haya Samir, and journalists Boaz Bismuth and Shlomi Eldar – will lead discussions on the films. Participants will discuss the origins of hatred and its impact on our society in the past and present, in the context of the unfounded hatred that, according to tradition, ultimately led to the destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent exile some 2,000 years ago.The program will start at 1 p.m. and end when the fast is over, at 8:15 p.m. Refreshments will be served at the end of the day.Entrance is free.NostalgiaCan’t forget those groovy moments at Woodstock back in the ’60s? Whether we were there or weren’t even born yet, many of us still think of those as good times. The Jerusalem Woodstock Revival is back for the fifth time and will take place on July 18 at the Kraft Stadium. Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan will not be there, but they will be represented with due honor and respect, with the help of singers Michael Greilshammer, Libby, Natan Galili, Orly Naftali and many more. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., and tickets are available at www.woodstockrevival.com or 623-6443.A sign of Mandate times Simi Mor, who holds the tourism portfolio on the city council received a personal plea a few weeks ago. A resident, who seems to know a lot about the city’s modern history, informed Mor that Allenby Square, named after General Edmund Allenby, who entered the city at the head of the British Army in 1917, bears no signpost. Even taxi drivers in the city don’t seem to know the name of the little square just behind the Central Bus Station in Romema, added the resident. Mor asked Mayor Nir Barkat to put an end to the anomaly, and it now bears its legitimate name.
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)