Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and council member representing the Jewish Home, Dov Kalmanowitz, fears that members of the City Council from the ultra-Orthodox factions are delaying the election of their representatives to the electorate, out of a desire to wait until Rabbi Aryeh Stern, the Religious Zionist candidate for the position of Ashkenazi city rabbi, reaches the age of 70 - and will be unable to run.
""The members of the various factions are supposed to send 24 people to the electoral body, the Haredim are trying to delay the process, at the previous council meeting the representatives of the Haredi factions did not give the names," Kalmanowitz said in an interview withChannel 7.
Kalmanowitz warns that if the names are not submitted within thirty days, the authority to select members of the electorate will automatically pass to the Minister of Religious Affairs. "There has been no chief rabbi for ten years, the Zionist circles have chosen their candidate, Rabbi Aryeh Stern, and we expect the process to be completed as quickly as possible.".
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The electorate has 48 members, and in addition to the Jerusalem Municipality, representatives of the synagogues and the Minister of Religious Affairs must also send 24 representatives.".
He said that despite the tensions, talks are underway with the Haredi community to reach an agreement. "I don't want to elaborate on that," he told Channel 7. "But there are talks. To the best of my knowledge, no agreements have been reached yet. We also feel a commitment to the Haredi community, which is a large community in Jerusalem.".
