From some comments on various posts here, and more from offline comments, some people don't seem to understand why I would support Eli Cohen over Moshe Abutbol.


There are a number of reasons given why to continue to support Abutbol, and I will post my responses:

1. Abutbol is great. He has done this and that.

me: that is great, and if that is your priority, if that is what you think is great for the city, then you should vote for him and support him.

2. maybe he is not so great, but he is not so bad. if he isnt so bad then why change? if we change, who knows what we will get?

me: I am not afraid of change. if we have the potential to do better, why not try to do so?

3. at least he is better than the previous guy (Vaknin)?

me: that is true. he is definitely better than the previous guy on most things. And hopefully the next mayor will be even better!

4. the people who want to replace the mayor only want to because they hate haredim!

me: not true. That might have been true for some of the candidates - but they have all dropped out. I do not and did not support any candidates who are anti-haredi. Eli Cohen has good relations with many haredim, and has even drawn a lot of support from moderate haredim. I have never heard him say a bad word about haredim. He does talk abotu stopping the extremists from setting the tone in the public sphere, and I agree with him on that. Eli Cohen talks a lot about how all residents, haredi ones included, deserve to be serviced by the Iryah according to their needs. People who live in Bet Shemesh deserve the best quality of life possible, each community with its respective needs.

His method of distribution of resources might be different than what some people are used to, but it will be done in a professional way with the goal being that everybody get what they need and deserve from the city.

Just because I do not support Moshe Abutbol, does not mean it is because he is Haredi. It is because he is not, in my opinion, a particularly good mayor. Just the opposite, if he was a good mayor I would happily support him. If the Haredi parties replaced him with somebody I thought would be good and professional, I would be happy to support him or her. Just because he is Haredi does not mean that is the issue at hand.

5. even if the opponent is not anti-haredi, some of his supporters are!

me: who cares? I can't fix everybody. I am not voting for them for mayor, so what do I care what they think? There are idiots everywhere. I cannot account for everyone. And in the Moshe Abutbol camp there are also idiots who are anti other people (secular or DL or whatever). Should you not vote for Abutbol just because some of his supporters are idiots?

6. But he isnt religious! does not even wear a kippa! how can you support him against Moshe Abutbol who is Haredi!

me: I am looking for a guy to clean my streets efficiently and to provide proper city services. I am not looking for a rav. If I was looking for a rav or a mashgiach, I would look for somebody who looks more rabbinic. I would want someone religious/haredi. As it is, it is not important to me if the guy in charge of picking up my garbage and cleaning my streets is religious or not. i want the guy who will do the job best.

If someone has a medical condition, does he look for the best doctor to deal with his condition, or does he look for someone haredi or religious? Same idea. I want someone who can manage the city properly - if he is religious or haredi that is fine, if he is not that is also fine.

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I saved the best (in the sense of the longest, most detailed, answer) for last, even though it was touched on in previous questions and answers..

7. At the end of the day, no matter what they say, they really just want to stop the Haredim from moving to Bet Shemesh, and even chase out the ones already here. Clearly they are anti-haredi.

me: I will break this down to two sections:

1. neither of the candidates is claiming as part of their platform to stop haredim from moving to Bet Shemesh,. There were candidates who did, but they eventually dropped out. These two candidates, both Eli and Aliza, have good relationships with haredim and haredi reps. neither has said any such thing that you suggest and they have both said the opposite. They want to continue to build for haredim. They just want to do it differently. They want to build *also* for haredim, but not *just* for haredim. 

As well, they want to build with infrastructure in place so that haredim (like anyone else) will have what they need. I have been to RBS C. There are a lot of houses being built. Are there any shuls near completion, or even near being started? any mikvas? any schools? no there are not. that means in a few months when residents start moving in, they will have none of their communal needs available. They will have to rely on such things from RBS A when necessary, like schools and mikvas, while RBS A is already overburdened due to its own size. shuls will be in apartments, schools in apartments and driven to RBS A (or elsewhere) and more caravans will be plopped down everywhere and anywhere possible.

Why cant a neighborhood be built with a shul and a mikva and schools that are ready when the houses are ready?  These candidates want to plan the new neighborhoods properly so that whoever buys there, including haredim, have their needs taken care of, so they have the quality of life they deserve.

2. what do I want to see from the mayor? 


in no particular order:
a. he should not be pulled by the extremists, letting them set the tone, letting them decide what happens in town. the current mayor unfortunately does that. Even UTJ has criticized him for that and has been a large part of their considering to run their own candidate (which they wont) - reps have said that here the haredi community has gotten a bad name and it is because the mayor lets the more extreme elements set the tone and force a lot of decisions.

b. necessary infrastructure should be in place. askanim should not be given plots of land for schools that they then rent out to schools, just because they are close to the mayor. the schools and shuls and other communal buildings and institutions should get what they need from the mayor.. new neighborhoods should be built with what they need, and growth taken into account.

c. diversity should be encouraged. we bought in, and moved to, a "mixed" city, and personally I want it to continue to be "mixed". That means I want haredim to continue to move to Bet Shemesh (and they will, regardless of who is the mayor - Moshe Abutbol did not bring the big influx of haredim to bet Shemesh - they came well before he was the mayor), but I also want a mayor who will encourage other people to also come. Moshe Abutbol no longer has the ability to do this, even if he has the desire (which I doubt). Abutbol has worked on changing the image of Bet Shemesh to be a haredi city in the public eye.

d. I want infrastructure dealt with - cleaning the city, repairing broken roads, matnasim that function, etc. It does not bother me that Abutbol went to China or Tibet, but it does bother me that he does not seem to know how to prioritize the budget of the city for the things that give us our quality of life. the city s filthy, though it has improved slightly in recent months, the roads are decrepit with potholes and patches and more potholes, the sidewalks are a danger as the bricks cave and bubble and threaten people with broken ankles and broken necks for stepping into a ditch or tripping over a bubble.

d. I want a mayor who will attract business. Abutbol has walked away from deals to bring large companies to Bet Shemesh. Yes, he fought with Mateh Yehuda to get some of their industrial zones transferred to Bet Shemesh, but has he brought any serious business to Bet Shemesh? He brought in some stores, stores that usually employ a few people, while other stores closed - but did he bring any large businesses that will employ dozens or hundreds of people? factories? Intel was considering a deal here and then went elsewhere because no attractive deal was offered to them. the same for a call center I am aware of that could have employed dozens of people. Iryat Bet Shemesh does not even have a department that focuses on business. I want someone who has attracting business and employment opportunities as a focus of his plan. Bringing business will bring revenue for the city in the form of taxes (businesses pay a much higher rate of arnona than residents), and it also provides local employment opportunities for residents.

e. higher education along with special education. There is nothing local and people HAVE to leave the city if they want opportunities. Both candidates have made this a focus of their future administration, of giving people the ability to stay in bet Shemesh for their education needs, whether it is vocational training, whether it is higher education, whether it is special education. etc. The city has a budget of 20 million shekels just to bus people to other towns for their special ed needs! 20 million shekels! for that price they can't create a special ed system her ein Bet Shemesh?

People should not have to leave the city for their basic needs, though they can always choose to if they so prefer.

There are other issues as well (youth is a big one and culture is another), and each person will have his own list of priorities for the various issues, but I think that is enough for now.

Again, if you think Abutbol is a great mayor and provides all your needs - wonderful. vote for him. I think we can do much better.

I think Eli Cohen has the background and experience that give him the greatest potential of being a better mayor. He has managed budgets and resources larger than the entire city of Bet Shemesh combined. He has managed massive projects related to infrastructure. He has managed human resources to the tune of thousands of employees and people who answered to him. He connected with the people and has been building his platform based on what he hears from the people - hearing their problems and incorporating their needs and their ideas into his solutions.

Yes, it is a risk. Who knows if he will live up to his potential? Who knows if he will actually be capable of dealing with the complexities? It is possible he will fail, but we have to go on the best potential and base things on the best that we can see and evaluate. After that, it is out of our hands.

That is why I support Eli Cohen over Moshe Abutbol for mayor of Bet Shemesh.

and in the primaries that is taking place now via a telephone survey to determine the candidacy between Eli Cohen and Moshe Abutbol, I definitely support Eli Cohen over Aliza Bloch (even though Bloch is a talented professional who has important accomplishments and abilities under he belt) and recommend that if you get called you say the same.