"Nir Barkat. Mayor."
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler
We had a preview of Jerusalem’s mayoral election earlier this week. Now we can declare software entrepreneur Nir Barkat the winner.
Barkat embodies a bit of a contradiction, doesn’t he? “The great hope of the city’s secular Jewish community,” as BBC describes him, will not consider dividing Jerusalem and plans to build Jewish housing in Arab East Jerusalem.
From Ynet (which also has a video):
He announced his victory early Wednesday morning. “Tonight Jerusalem has won, tonight Israel has won, tonight the Jewish people have won,” the soon-to-be mayor declared.
“Victory belongs to all those who love and cherish this special and amazing city of ours, the Jewish people’s eternal capital. It belongs to the Right and the Left, it belongs to the religious and the secular.”
Barkat called on the city’s residents to unite. “As of this morning I am mayor of all Jerusalemites. I want to offer praise to Meir Porush and his supporters, and the public they represent,” Barkat said. He concluded his speech with a blow on a shofar (ceremonial ram’s horn) and the singing of the national anthem.
