Email Of The Day: Bet Shemesh Visits London

Email Of The Day

The following email was sent to the community email list the other day:

Just had a report back from participants in the London Israel Fair.
Beit Shemesh was the only city that paid for a double booth. All other cities had one
Beit Shemesh was the only city that had the mayor there. He does not speak English
Beit Shemesh was the only one that had more than 2 staff. The mayor took 4 other people with him


In total they had less than 30 people that came to their booth throughout the day.


Beit Shemesh spent more of our tax money on this fair than did Jerusalem, Modiin, Ra’anana, Ashdod and Haifa.
How can we publicize this travesty and attempt to stop it?
This is only one amongst many trips that the mayor had us pay for that he had absolutely no impact.
If we don’t voice our anger at his abuse of our tax shekels it will only continue.
All helpful input welcome

Now, I have not been shy about criticizing the mayor when I think he deserves it, which has been often enough. (On occasion I have even praised him for some good things he has done (such as actually getting construction going on Road 10, finally getting the government to begin the approval process for upgrading Highway 38, renovating the entrance to the city, etc).)

I wrote back to the author a brief message saying:

when he doesnt try to attract buyers from the general public we are upset at him, and now when he does try to attract buyers we are also upset at him?


The fact that he met with poor results should be addressed. Perhaps he needs better advisers, different marketing strategy or whatnot. I would not exactly want to accuse him of trying too hard.

By this I meant that the fact that he went, brought others with him, and got a good booth should not be an issue to complain about. One could complain that perhaps there isn't enough oversight in the City Hall to ensure money is being spent properly, proper marketing strategies are being developed, and the like. The initial complaint sounded more like the mayor is wasting our money by going to these things. Reading it again now, it might just be the additional point that they mayor went as well despite not speaking any English.

In general, we accuse the mayor of not trying to attract people to the city. When he does actually go (again, it should be with the right people who can talk to potential olim, with the right marketing strategy), we should be proud that he is trying and not accuse him of abusing us. He might not be perfect even when he does try, but at least he is trying, or making the attempt to show he is trying.

The original author wrote back to me that his complaint was really about how the money was wasted. My initial reading had not left me with the impression that that was the only complaint, but so be it.

After that, the issue seems to have mostly been resolved, I assume, by a posting from the Acting Director, Dept. of International Relations in the Municipality of Beit Shemesh that said:

I organised the Beit Shemesh delegation to the Aliyah Fair in London.


I feel you should IMMEDIATELY retract your statements about the City paying for a double booth. What you are saying is based on hearsay evidence and may be libellous. Beit Shemesh paid for a single booth and the organiser of the event, the Aliyah Chief in the UK Mr. Rafi Nasi GAVE us the double booth AT NO EXTRA COST. If you do noot believe me then please contact him.


As to your other points - I received approval from the Municipal Council to arrange our delegation which included: Mrs. Tami Elmaleah Co-ordinator for English speaking Aliyah at the Municipality, and Mrs Miri Shalem the director of the RAMBASH MATNAS who while living in the UK was a youth aliyah Bnei Akiva co-ordinator. I myself made aliyah from the UK.


Mayor Abutbul does not speak English but he spoke Hebrew to former Israelis living in the UK and who expressed interest in possibly living in Beit Shemesh. He also spoke in 7 synagogues between Friday morning when we landed and Sunday. The mayor also answered questions from parents of people living in Beit Shemesh who are concerned about the situation here. I translated for him. Since our Foreign Minister did not for a very long time speak English that is why he has translators.


You may not like or agree with the policies of the Mayor, but these fairs are important to ensure the city attracts young, educated professional people and families who work for a living, otherwise they really will go to Modiin, Jerusalem and Haifa and we will be left with the rest.