Yossi Deutsch disappointed me

Yossi Deutsch was very impressive in his recent run for mayor of Jerusalem, even though it was a doomed campaign from the start. Deutsch broke stigmas, he was unique, he was fresh and refreshing, he crossed sectoral lines and directly reached out to all sorts of people he would not normally converse with, he spoke directly and openly and clearly. Obviously not enough people were impressed, as he lost in the first round, but many people were, myself included. Based on the campaign Yossi Deutsch ran I could have seen myself voting for him had I been a resident of Jerusalem.

Yossi Deutsch just disappointed me, and not because of his recent, and continued, defense of Yaakov Litzman regarding his allegedly helping Malka Leifer avoid extradition in an illegal way.

During his campaign Deutsch spoke about doing things differently, seeing the person and not just the sector, breaking stigmas and molds. He asked that people not look at what he wears, how he dresses, which group he is part of, but to look at him for his ideas and his creativity and his plans. He made what seemed like a strong friendship with fellow candidate Ofer Berkovitch, even though they were opponents in the same race, and his concept of breaking stigmas seemed serious.

In an interview with Kikar, one of the questions asked was whom did he vote for in the second round of the Jerusalem elections. I was disappointed to see that Deutsch voted for Moshe Li-On, the eventual victor and current mayor.

In the video interview on the site (this info is not included in the text summary), Deutsch says it is clear he voted for Li-On and that was the only option because that's what the gedolei hatorah said to do.

Even though I cannot have expected otherwise of Yossi Deutsch, as a Haredi person, and a Haredi public figure, he could not really do anything but vote according to the instructions of the gedolim - that is how the party works. Yet I am disappointed. After a long campaign of him pleading with people to not vote along party lines, to not vote according to stereotype and stigma, to break all that and see the person and do something different, he himself did just that - he voted along party lines, he vote the way he voted because he is haredi and could not consider any other option. I am disappointed to discover that Yossi Deutsch was a fraud and just figured out a good campaign line but did not really live by anything he himself said.

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