Game of Thrones: At a Jerusalem City Council meeting, several representatives from the United Torah Judaism were appointed to various committees - and the secular factions are furious.
This evening, at the City Council meeting, representatives from the United Torah Judaism faction were added to the various committees in the municipality, in order to correct the injustice in the division that has existed to date, which has reduced the relative share of United Torah Judaism - the largest faction in the council - in the municipal committees.
For example, Councilman Yitzhak Pindros was appointed to the Finance Committee, in addition to the three members already on the Torah Judaism Committee. Yaakov Halperin received the endorsements, Deputy Mayor Yisrael Kellerman received the tenders, and various other appointments.
Council members from the secular factions, mainly the Hitorerot faction, joined by the Jerusalemites faction, were outraged by the move. They argued that they too deserved the appointment of more members to the various committees, and that until they received their share, it was inappropriate to grant appointments to the other factions, which would disrupt the balance of power in the committees.
The secularists even sought to oppose the appointments in the vote that was held, but Mayor Nir Barkat made it clear that such a move could lead to their being pushed out of the municipal coalition.
Barkat added that not supporting the appointments is an uncollegial act, and that they too will receive what they deserve at the next council meetings.
Finally, the secular factions decided to simply abstain - and the appointments were approved.
Later, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of Hitorerut, Ofer Berkowitz, published a joint status on his Facebook page for the council members who opposed the move, which read: "We are very disappointed with Mayor Nir Barkat, who changed the balance of power in various important committees such as the Finance Committee and the Support Committee, and added Haredi representatives to these committees, a decision that harms the tolerant public.".
""We are happy about the cooperation against this move between Awakening and Jerusalemites.".
Berkowitz added: "We will continue to represent the tolerant public faithfully and protect its interests in the municipality.".
Senior figures in the Haredi factions condemned these statements, in a conversation with Haredim10, and defined them as "inappropriate." The same figures added that even after the addition of representatives, additional representatives are still arriving for the United Torah Judaism faction, according to the distribution key that was determined.
A Shas source tells Haredim10 that the Shas faction has also reached understandings with the mayor about adding representatives, as the faction deserves, and that the representatives will be appointed after the legal clarification of Eli Shamchiof's situation, which will determine whether a new Shas representative will join - Asher Mishali.
Referring to Berkowitz's words, the source said: "They have four representatives and two members on the Finance Committee. We, with five council members, only have two members, and so on in the other committees - where is the justice?"'
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