In the video: promotional videos of the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon/photo: Jerusalem Municipality
The election committee fined Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon and the municipality in the amount of 21,000 to be transferred to the Revival faction in Jerusalem, following a petition for contempt of court and prohibited election propaganda with the publication of a coloring booklet for first graders, signed by the mayor.
As a reminder, during the year 2023, which was declared as an election year, the local authorities are strict about a complete separation between the municipality's announcements and the mayor's announcement, in Jerusalem this separation seems to be very flexible.
The Yehuda Central Election Committee has determined several times already that the mayor is using the resources of the municipality and spokeswomen to promote his election campaign.
In February 2023, the Election Commission determined that Moshe Leon improperly used the municipality's resources for personal election propaganda.
The chairman of the committee, Judge Aryeh Romanov, ruled in a precedent-setting decision that the billboards, newspaper publications and gift bags bearing the name of the mayor of Jerusalem with municipal funding of hundreds of thousands of shekels, are a violation of propaganda laws, and ruled that he will have to pay court costs of 40 thousand shekels.
In addition, in July 2023, the mayor will again be fined personally due to prohibited publications. The Election Commission determined that the amount of the fine will be NIS 15,000, and this is due to Leon's personal promotion in the Independence Day publications.
Members of One Jerusalem led by Moshe Leon/official website, photo: Rafi Ben Hakon
Adir Shortz, Chairman of the Awakening movement in Jerusalem
- "This is a significant ruling that demands justice and fairness towards all the residents of Jerusalem.
This generation expects its leaders to act for the benefit of the city and not for the personal benefit of any politician.
In order to ensure that such a case will not be repeated in the future, Leon must have a young faction in the coalition that will ensure that every shekel in the budget is used for the benefit of the residents of Jerusalem."
The spokesperson of the Jerusalem Municipality stated
: The Chairman of the Yehuda Regional Elections Committee, Honorable Judge Romanov, stated in his decision from today that the Jerusalem Municipality and the Mayor did not disrespect his decisions and rejected with reasoned decisions the requests submitted by the Revival faction and the community association Givat Mordechai against the Jerusalem Municipality and its head, according to the court's contempt order.
The judge's decision concerns various publications issued by the municipality during the emergency period since the October 7 massacre, and two other old publications.
The Jerusalem Municipality respects the Honorable Judge Romanov's comment that there have been errors, however these errors are an almost negligible minority out of hundreds of announcements and publications every month, in the vast majority of which, as mentioned, no errors have occurred.
In light of the comments of Honorable Judge Romanov, the municipality will work immediately to refine procedures, so that mistakes of this type will not happen again.
The Jerusalem Municipality will continue to serve the public with honesty and faith.
and will work to strengthen the sense of security in the city, while placing additional emphasis and additional examination of the publications before publishing them.
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