When Eli Cohen, one of the top local politicians in Kiryat, decided to move to the Carmel Castle following love, he did not imagine that the move would give birth to another love - love for the Carmel Castle.
His connection with the city and its residents, and the extensive experience he gained over two decades in public and social work, made him an active figure in the local landscape from his first day in the city.
When he met Efrat city council member David Sasson, a special connection was formed between them.
After a few conversations, they realized that they share common values and above all a public mission and a desire for change.
In the upcoming elections, the two will compete on one list, with Cohen at the head of it, with the aim of making Tirat Carmel the leading city in the region.
The race for mayor of the Carmel Castle has started (photo: official website, photo: public relations)
The family tragedy
Eli Cohen (50) was born and raised in Kiryat Yam, and until a few months ago was an integral part of its public life, influencing and helping thousands of the city's residents over 20 years of public activity.
The breaking point in his life happened when he was 16 years old, when his parents were involved in a car accident and one day, his life as he knew it was over.
The fatal accident took the life of his mother and his younger brother Moshiko was left with a head injury to this day.
The family tragedy made him commemorate his mother's unwritten will - to give wholeheartedly and give back to the community.
"My mother was very sociable, with a huge giving and a heart of gold. She was very dominant in my life, I was in her eyes, and I inherited the value of giving from her."
Already from a young age, while bearing the loss of his beloved mother, Cohen turned to social work, which for him was not only a will, but mainly a mission that filled his life.
And so, after years of volunteering for the community, Cohen decided to take his activities one step further, and 15 years ago he joined political life and ran for the city council in Kiryat Yam.
He became involved in local politics as a council member and in the following term he already became deputy mayor, a position he held for the next two terms.
Eli Cohen (photo: official website, photo: Reuven Kapuchinsky)
"I have detailed plans and solutions for every problem raised by the residents"
For the past four years, he has served as the chairman of the Association of Sewerage Cities. In addition to his duties in the municipal arena, he has held a number of positions in KKL-Junk, including a member of the board, a member of the finance committee, a leading partner in the investment committee of KKL-Jelil and Negev and chairman of the committee for social enterprises.
All these make him an experienced politician and public figure, who knows the municipal system in detail, while having a deep acquaintance with many cities in the entire area, including the Carmel Castle, with which he worked closely even in his previous positions.
"I have detailed plans and solutions for every problem raised by the residents," says Cohen, "the plan is the product of the rich experience I bring with me from the municipal arena combined with daily meetings with the residents, which grew plans that will turn Carmel Castle into the leading city in the region."
Efrat David Sasson (photo: official website, photo: Reuven Kapuchinsky)
One woman against 13 men
Efrat David Sasson was born in the Carmel Castle to a family whose roots are deeply rooted in the city's history, her father, who immigrated from Iraq was the city's legendary electrician, and her mother who was born in Israel to parents who immigrated from Romania.
They both lived and experienced their childhood in the passage in the Carmel Castle.
As someone who grew up in the Carmel Castle of the 1980s, it was clear to her that in order to succeed in life one had to excel in studies, but for that she had to go to study outside the city.
She was accepted to the Reut School of Arts and shortly before she was supposed to move up to the upper division, the Haifa Municipality decided that her studies at the Reut School would end in the division.
"It was my first demonstration," she says, "I remember the house full of signs and me demonstrating with my friends in front of the city hall. My first public struggle was as a girl in the ninth grade and he was unsuccessful, even though we were given the opportunity to be tested in Wizo."
Efrat went to take the test and received a negative answer, but her mother, with a lot of resourcefulness, was able to see the test and noticed that not only did her daughter pass the test, but she obtained a high score.
She was invited to the school principal, who tried to convince her that this was not the school for her.
David Sassoon listened and finally decided to study at Wicho and succeed. "There something very powerful happened to me internally, I made a decision that no one will tell me that I am less good because I am from Carmel Castle, but that I will prove to everyone that there are the most successful children." From that breaking
point , together with the local pride and the need to change and influence realized that she had to provoke a change in the Carmel Castle and the stigmas that stuck to it and when she started a family in the Carmel Castle the motivation to cause change increased.
Before the 2013 elections, Efrat realized that she wanted to influence the local authority, together with her group we built a detailed work plan in all areas of life in the city, went down to the neighborhoods and met adults, teenagers from all the communities.
"With this document, I met with the members of the city council and the mayor, and there my ideal was shattered, because I actually saw how things work. Immediately when I arrived, they recognized me as a force and tried to offer me positions. I realized that no one speaks my language and does not represent the young families in the city, and that there is no vision."
The group ran as an independent list in the city council elections and, with minimal resources, set off politically, five months before the elections.
They raised an eyebrow in the political system, but David Sassoon obtained one mandate and entered the city council, one woman against 13 men.
"Then I met Eli"
If we go back to the last few months, while Cohen retired from the position of deputy mayor, David Sassoon actually decided to run for mayor, but in the process realized that significant connections had to be made in order to replace the government.
"Then I met Eli," she says.
"The first time we met, he told me his personal story, which really touched me, his perception of how a city should be run and that in the end what is most important are the residents. Eli is a people person, who sees the public mission eye to eye with me. It is important to him to promote the city , to bring professionalism and innovation and provide excellent services to the residents and this is exactly my concept. We have common values, we are public servants, there are no masters and subjects here, and that's why we really connected here."
Little by little, the relationship between the two was built, the friendship and partnership was built, and for David Sasson, the fact that Cohen also brings with him extensive experience in the field of urban planning, the Achilles heel of the city, completed the puzzle.
"I found my values at Efrat," says Cohen, "I have a lot of political experience and I know that many politicians forget the fact that they set out on the political path with the goal of contributing and changing, but with Efrat, just like with me, the goal was and remains, to take care of the residents and to change from a perspective of mission".
The two people, whose one breaking point in their lives caused them to become public messengers and embark on the political path, decided to join forces together and with many shared values to embark on a new path and run on one list for mayor, headed by Eli Cohen.
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