"Promoting himself instead of promoting the city": The mayor of Jerusalem posted a video for the marathon - and removed it

In the video, which is estimated to cost hundreds of thousands, Moshe Leon runs around the city and meets with celebrities who encourage him: "Moshe Moshe, at the end of the job it pays off."

The municipal opposition faction filed a petition claiming that the video was propaganda and "glorifying Leon".

Jerusalem Municipality: "We decided to remove the video on our own initiative"

Shlomi Heller

24/03/2022

Thursday, 24 March 2022, 17:37 Updated: 18:03

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The Jerusalem Municipality has removed an advertising video for the municipal marathon from social networks, after a series of videos costing hundreds of thousands of shekels starring Mayor Moshe Leon.

This is an advertising video for the Jerusalem Marathon in which Mayor Moshe Leon is presented as the presenter of the event, in which he runs around the city and meets with various celebrities such as Danny Rup and actor Kobi Maor who encourage him to keep running.

"The mayor at the end of the work pays off," the mayor has nothing like running in Jerusalem, clear air like wine. " "The video puts Mr. Leon at the center, while portraying his character, as a man running around the city. Also, some of the celebrities' messages have a double meaning that also sends a message to Mr. Leon's professional performance as mayor like 'the job pays off' and the importance of 'strategy'.

The faction claimed that the video, whose production is estimated at tens of thousands of shekels, constitutes election propaganda and demanded that it be removed from the network.

Following a hearing in the Jerusalem District House on Saturday as the Yehuda Regional Election Commission, it was agreed that the video starring Mayor Leon would be removed from the municipality's Facebook pages and social networks.

This is not the first time that the municipality has produced videos worth tens and hundreds of thousands of shekels starring the mayor from the residents' money.

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To the full article

"The Greatest Singers on the Seder Night of Moshe Leon."

Leon (Photo: Official Website, Alternative 1)

In preparation for Passover and Sukkot 2021, the Jerusalem Municipality has produced a music video with the holiday songs, with the great Hasidic Haredi singers.

But alongside the well-known singers, Mayor Moshe Leon starred, and the video funded by the Jerusalem municipality became a personal video.

At all kinds of events, videos are filmed for social networks, and it makes sense for the mayor to be photographed and appear in them, but in the videos in question, he was branded under Mayor Moshe Leon.

For example, on the last Sukkot holiday, a video was published under the title: "Sukkot from Jerusalem - and you rejoiced in your holiday: the giants of Oriental and Hassidic singing in the sukkah of Mayor Moshe Leon."

The video was shot in a studio and not in Leon's arbor.

In the video, Leon sits in the center of a group of singers, who sing a string of Hasidic songs.

In a video filmed for Passover, "Seder night from Jerusalem - watch the huge production: the great singers on Moshe Leon's Seder night" Leon is seen sitting at a table next to Hassidic children and singers singing the Seder songs.

The cost of videos also raises question marks.

The cost of producing the video for Sukkot reached NIS 248,000.

The Jerusalem Municipality refused to deliver to Walla!

The cost of the video produced for Passover, but since it is the same video length - 11 minutes, and the same production company, it can be estimated that it is a similar amount.

Producers involved in the world of productions told Walla!

Because these are very high amounts compared to what is accepted in the industry for producing a music video.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon in a video from the Jerusalem Marathon (Photo: Official Website, Alternative 1)

We emphasize that every year the Jerusalem Municipality asks the government for a special balancing budget, the "capital grant", which last year amounted to NIS 882 million, and the city is ranked 3rd in the socio-economic ranking of the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Councilman Adir Schwartz, (Awakening) said: "Unfortunately, the mayor is once again promoting himself instead of promoting Jerusalem. I regret that the money of the residents of Jerusalem, the city with the highest property taxes in the country, is being used for Leon's political needs. "Waste of public money. We will continue to be vigilant for the benefit of the city's residents."

Advocate Tomer Naor, the legal advisor to the Movement for Quality of Government: "We are about a year and a half before the local elections, and it seems that some of the mayors have started warming up and embarking on banned propaganda.

Recall that the ruling set out the dominant effect test, which examines several variables designed to influence the potential voter, including the identity of the factors appearing in the video and their degree of dominance in it.

There is no doubt that a video funded by public funds, and directly targeted at the mayor who appears in his name and face, under the title "Host in his Sukkah" meets the conditions of this test.

We call on all candidates in the local authorities to take extra care in the use of public funds to conduct prohibited election propaganda. "

The municipality said: "In the hearing that took place this morning, the judge did not accept the request of the Awakening faction and did not rule in its favor. On the contrary, the only decision made at the hearing is that the disputed legal question Annoying background that will interfere with the main event and that is the marathon, and also in light of the fact that today the registration for the marathon closes, the Jerusalem Municipality decided, voluntarily and on its own initiative, to remove the video from social networks later tonight. "Continue to register for running in the various allotments of the marathon, which will take place this coming Friday and invites all the residents to a colorful and fun sports celebration."

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