Israel Matzav

Video: Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat speaks to the Washington Institute on Near East Policy

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat spoke to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank, on Wednesday. This video comes in four parts: Two parts for Barkat's speech and two parts for the question and answer session afterward. I'll have the four parts. There's a summary here, but note, for example, that the summary says we're 200 classrooms short and Barkat said 2,000 (I suppose the person who wrote the summary found 2,000 to be unbelievable, but it's true). Note also that the summary says 20,000 illegal structures, mostly in 'east' Jerusalem, while Barkat says 20,000 illegal structures in 'east' Jerusalem.

A big chunk of the first part of the question and answer session is about the Ramat Shlomo blow-up from this past March.

Let's go to the videotape.



Here's the second part of Barkat's talk. Let's go to the videotape.



Here's the first part of the question and answer session. Let's go to the videotape.



Here's the second part of the question and answer session. Let's go to the videotape.



What many of you may not appreciate is how precarious Barkat's position in Jerusalem is for reasons that have nothing to do with the city's Arab population. The Arabs don't vote, but the ultra-Orthodox population does. The main reason Barkat is Mayor today is that there was a split in the ultra-Orthodox population in the last election. Whether Barkat will be re-elected may depend on whether that split is healed. There's a lot of discontent with Barkat in the ultra-Orthodox community because they feel he is targeting them and trying to prevent more neighborhoods from becoming ultra-Orthodox strongholds. If the ultra-Orthodox community unites against him, Barkat is unlikely to be re-elected.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:53 AM