Reading while you’re voting

While voting continues, here’s a small selection of Times of Israel electoral coverage you might want to (re)read:

First up, this is Haviv Rettig Gur telling you WHY, if you have them, you ought to exercise your democratic rights today. “Turnout is traditionally lower in local elections, but it shouldn’t be,” notes Gur. “In the Israeli system, local governments handle much of the workload when it comes to education, welfare services, environmental regulations and cleanup, fire and rescue services, cultural events – in short, most of the public services that most Israelis actually consume.”

Next, this is Yifa Yaakov, on the unpleasant mini-TV face-off last night between Barkat and Lior. Asked by the interviewer if he had anything positive to say about his rival, Lion responded: ‘After three months of lies and slander by his campaign managers, I don’t even have one good thing to say about him.’ Asked the same question, Barkat said he wished Lion well in his future moves — indicating his conviction that Lion, who only recently relocated to Jerusalem from his home town of Givatayim, would not be taking over at City Hall.”

This is Raphael Ahren’s overview of the unexpectedly bitter Jerusalem mayoral contest. He notes: “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and both the Barkat and Lion camps have the numbers to prove that Jerusalem is either up and coming or going down the drain. The vote on October 22 may be less about which of them is right. Rather, some 550,000 Jerusalem voters will decide which contender will better advance their interests in the city.”

And here are Nir Barkat and Moshe Lion on the record, in fascinating Times of Israel interviews.

Here’s Jessica Steinberg on Rachel Azaria, a Jerusalem city councilor bidding for reelection on social, educational and “lifestyle” issues — such as who runs the city’s mikvahs.

Meanwhile, in Beit Shemesh, a very close contest is underway between Shas’s ultra-Orthodox incumbent Moshe Abutbul and secular challenger Eli Cohen. In which context, American immigrant, former Beit Shemesh political activist, and current Yesh Atid MK Rabbi Dov Lipman had some insider thoughts in our long interview in February.

Looking at the national implications of today’s vote, Haviv Rettig Gur assets in this piece that “more than at any time in memory, the local ballots will be watched carefully by national parties as signals of their own political future.”

Earlier this month, Elhanan Miller visited Nazareth, where he found “the largest Arab city in Israel impoverished and depressed,” a place where residents are “the most likely Israelis to fear falling victim to crime.” Long-time Mayor Ramez Jaraisy, a Christian, is attempting to keep his position against a number of challengers including MK Hanin Zoabi, a controversial, secular Muslim parliamentarian from the Balad party who has deep political roots in the city.

And finally, this is Debra Kamin’s round-up of several Anglo immigrant candidates in the running today. “Taken together, the quartet represents a cross-section of Anglo Jewry in Israel: There’s Maya Tapiero, a 27-year-old student from Montreal, who’s running with the female-centric Ometz Lev party and committed to upgrading city planning in Jerusalem; Jonathan Javor, a 31-year-old from England who has a wealth of experience in the Knesset and the Tel Aviv mayor’s ear; Jonny Cline, a British 38-year-old who left a West Bank settlement to raise his three children in Modi’in; and Rabbi Avrohom Leventhal, a religious grandfather who left the high-tech world in order to embrace public service in Beit Shemesh.”

Even if they don’t win, writes Kamen, “all four say their very presence on party lists and in the public eye shows that things are changing for Western newcomers to Israel.”