My thoughts:
1. Perhaps Bet Shemesh isn't really the heart of the cultural war that some are making it out to be. Maybe it is really just about local issues.
2. MK Aryeh Deri, when talking about Elad, used the phrase "Elad Chozeret LaToshavim" (under the leadership of Deri's candidate) - i.e. Elad is going back to the residents.
Aryeh Deri used the exact slogan in Elad that Eli Cohen is using in Bet Shemesh.
I will be honest, I never really understood or liked the Bet Shemesh Chozeret name or slogan. Going back to what? Even after it was explained to me that it means going back to the residents rather than in the hands and control of disconnected politicians and "askanim" (from all sectors), I still never fell in line with it.
When Aryeh Deri said it this morning, about Elad, I think I finally got it. Elad is a disaster, everyone knows it, and it is because of the askanim and the way the city has been run. The local interests and needs were never the priority, rather the advancement, whether locally or nationally, of the askanim and politicians. Elad Chozeret LaToshavim means that the days of self-interested askanim running City Hall are over and we will bring Elad back to the residents, to deal with the issues the residents are concerned about, to provide the services the residents need.
Bet Shemesh Chozeret is the same. Bet Shemesh Chozeret LaToshavim means the days of self-interested politicians and askanim are over. The city will be more concerned now with providing proper services to the residents, rather than advancing the interests of askanim.
3. At the end of the interview Mordechai Lavi (the talk show host on Kol BeRama) chuckled and pointed out that with all this election talk Bet Shemesh hasn't even come up and has not been mentioned. Deri responded and said that he has no need to be concerned with Bet Shemesh because Bet Shemesh is purely a haredi issue and the haredim are all united. Rav Moshe Abutbol, he said, is supported by all the haredim, with no exception, even despite the ashkenazi haredi parties being split for whatever reasons, they are all united behind Moshe Abutbol. Deri said, they are doing the work just fine to keep Bet Shemesh haredi and there is no need for his involvement. Rav Moshe Abutbol is not the representative of Shas, but of all the haredim.
Deri said that Abutbol is there to advance the haredi concerns, and they are all united behind him. My thoughts from what he said: Abutbol isn't there to advance Bet Shemesh, to make it better for everyone. Any issue he advances is either for the haredim or to throw the others a bone so they don't complain too much.
That is not what I expect from a mayor. I expect the mayor to be concerned for everyone in the city, to provide the necessary services to everyone in the city because that is what the city needs. Bet Shemesh Chozeret LaToshavim rather than the interests of just one sector of the city. The needs of the haredim are important, as are the needs of the other half of the city as well.
In my opinion, we do not need a mayor who is only really concerned with half the city. We need a mayor that is concerned with the entire city - the haredi half and the non-haredi half. That is why I think Eli Cohen is the right man for the job.
MK Aryeh Deri just solidified it for me even more. And Bet Shemesh was only an afterthought.
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