Shas MK Uriel Busso is running for the position of mayor of Bnei Brak in the municipal elections that will be held in about six months, the Shas party officially announced on Thursday morning.
The dramatic step was taken on the background of the long-standing rotation agreement between Agudas Yisrael and Degel HaTorah for the position, with Agudas Yisrael candidate Chanoch Zeibert, who served as Bnei Brak mayor from 2013 to 2018, slated to replace current mayor, Avraham Rubinstein. Due to the now sizeable presence of Shas supporters in the city, the party held numerous discussions on the fair distribution of power in the city but no agreement was reached.
The move is also part of a larger picture of negotiations for power for leadership in Chareidi cities as well as municipal representation in mixed cities such as Ashdod.
This is the first time that a Shas candidate is running for the position. Busso, who served as deputy mayor of Petach Tikvah for 14 years, was selected due to his municipal experience. Shortly before the decision was made, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri asked Busso to move from Petach Tikvah to Bnei Brak to enable his candidacy.
Prior to the announcement, Busso went to the homes of Sephardi Gedolim HaGaon HaRav Moshe Maya, HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Machpud, and HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Ben-Shimon to receive their bracha.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
What’s the point?
מחלקת?
About time
I hope he wins (and this is coming from an Ashkenazi).
Elections should be about ability and not out “dilim”
It’s about time!
As a former Ashkenazi resident of Bnei Brak, I applaud this move. Were I still there, I would vote for him.
Agudas Yisrael (and specifically Ger) had been running this city as their own for many years, leading to the eventual financial collapse of the city. After a short hiatus during which an outside committee ran the city, Agudas Yisrael joined forces with Degel to establish a dictatorship on the city. Votes for mayor ar symbolic at best, about as democratic as a vote for the president of China or Iran. The politicians decide among themselves who will be mayor, and then get the rubber stamp seal of approval from their respective Moetzes so they can ram it down everyone’s throat in the guise of “Da’as Torah”.
It’s about time a stop was put to this. It’s about time the population rose up en masse and voted for a new candidate and exercised their electoral power.
One couldn’t think of voting for Shas, the party that gave their Knesset votes to pass “Oslo”. Moreover, recently they have been involved in passing legislation that personally benefits not not the voters that elected them but the party leader. Sadly, the current administration that run Bnei Brak is riddled with nepotism. The lone voice in the city council who valiantly draws attention to the plight of the residents is the Likud representative on the city council Ya’akov Vider. Those now in control are responsible for the plague of rats that has seen children bitten and a sefer Torah gnawed.