Ben Gabir said at Rabbi Kahana's memorial that he opposes the expulsion of Arabs from Israel - and received boos (Roni Knafo)
A surprising name appeared this morning (Sunday) in the Street Naming Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality, when the members of the City Council were asked to discuss whether it is appropriate to name the street after Rabbi Meir Kahana, who founded the far-right movement "So".
However, Mayor Moshe Leon tried to avoid the discussion that might arise from the move, and put Kahana's name in a group of other names - which was finally rejected.
Municipality officials claim that the request to name a street in the city after the extremist rabbi is intended to defy a request to name the square after Shulamit Aloni, the former minister of education and a prominent left-wing figure.
Finally, this move was also rejected by the committee with a majority of eight opponents against two supporters.
Meir Kahana (Photo: Maged Gozni)
As part of the deliberations of the committee, which meets once every two months, representatives from the public bring up dozens of names at a time along with appendices of recommendations.
Rabbi Kahana's name also entered with a considerable number of recommendations - including the Rabbi of the city of Hebron, Dov Lior, the president of Yeshiva Ataret Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, and a personal letter to the mayor of Jerusalem signed by Dr. Rabbi Yosef Mandelovich, a former prisoner of Zion
The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Yossi Havilio, said: "The last thing Israel's capital needs is to perpetuate racism and violence in the names of its streets
.
I am glad that the Jerusalem Municipality made the right decision, and rejected outright the proposal to memorialize Rabbi Kahana within the city limits.
Unfortunately, in the current political climate, in which Kahana's successors sit in the Israeli government, this is no small decision." The
Jerusalem Municipality stated: "The request to memorialize Rabbi Meir Kahana came up for the first time as a proposal to the names committee and was rejected, both by the professional committees and the public names committee ".
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