Hundreds attend funeral for legendary Netanya mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar

Hundreds attend the funeral for Miriam Feirberg-Ikar, who served as mayor of the coastal city of Netanya since 1998, who died on Friday after a years-long battle with a serious illness.

Feirberg-Ikar’s coffin was placed in the city’s Miriam Stadium, which was named after her, for the public to come and pay their respect.

“You were a woman of the people, talking to everyone from the most senior to the most humble face-to-face, full of desire to help and give advice,” her husband Ronny Ikar says in his eulogy.

“You were a mayor who loved not only the position, but the city and the residents. You were a lioness, a superwoman,” he says.

A social worker by training, she worked in various capacities in Netanya’s municipality since the 1970s before being elected mayor in 1998 on the municipal Likud ticket.

She was re-elected five more times, most recently in 2024. At the time of her death, Feirberg-Ikar was tied with Tel Aviv’s Ron Huldai as the longest-serving mayor in Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the cabinet meeting in holding a minute silence for her earlier in the day.