Barbie and Brand unite against Huldai: "The city is stuck on autopilot"/Niv Aharonson
The election race in Tel Aviv was supposed to look completely different.
Four months before, the candidates stepped up a gear in front of the approaching vote at the polling stations, struggled trying to attach the protest to their image, looked for and found strong 2nds that would advance them a few more steps to the goal.
All these seem like a distant memory, erased in an instant.
Now, it seems that the incumbent mayor Ron Huldai and the claimant to the crown Orna Barbibai have lost their desire.
At least he's not when he was.
In times like these, getting into mud fights is not what they would have wished for.
Even for the polished political figures it feels detached from reality.
At the same time, their target audience is also usually not interested in their next mayor, compared to a historical war, an endless list of victims and 136 kidnapped people who never returned.
And with a cold look, it is not certain that it will be seen positively if the candidates choose an aggressive campaign.
Both know this and try to walk the thin line between the need to be chosen and the required sensitivity.
Ron Huldai's sign for the elections at the end of the month/official website, no
However, one of them has the privilege of choosing a quiet election campaign, and the other must act if she wants to shake the ground.
The equation is simple: Huldai has something to lose, Barbibai has nothing.
At most, you will return with folded tail to your safe place in the Yesh Atid party after an interesting adventure, and soon you will return to your high position.
For him, this would probably be the end of his career, after a failed attempt at the national court that he would not want to experience again.
The campaigns look accordingly.
Huldai, traditionally, does not go out in pompous campaigns.
This time especially.
As the election approaches in a few weeks, campaign signs will go up around town and social media posts will focus on the race, but the volume will be lower than ever.
In fact, Huldai's election campaign was built on the very functioning of the municipality since October 7.
Not only the preparation of the army and the government stood the test, but also that of the mayor, who was required to prove that he had prepared properly in his 25 years in office, five terms, since he was first elected in 1998.
His headquarters believe that he has proven himself in Money Time.
For example, when the educational institutions opened while other cities had to keep them closed.
The residents, at least in part, complained among other things about the lack of adequate protection, which even reached the level of a petition to the High Court.
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Huldai with the evacuees from Kiryat Shmona/Reuven Castro
A friend of his former rival.
Assaf Zamir/Flash 90, Hadas Proosh, Flash 90
Huldai sought to distance himself as much as possible from the appearance of politicization and raking in political capital from the disaster.
From the beginning of the fighting until recently, he kept his political advisors away from him, leaving them on hold.
Instead, he replaced the Shabbats in Kaplan with Shabbats in Shaul Hamelech, with rallies for the release of the kidnapped.
The attempt to show involvement in one struggle was replaced by another.
The program that aired exactly one week before the massacre in Otef and was shelved immediately after it may signal the direction in which he will go.
After the addition of the main opponent at the previous election date in 2018, his former deputy Assaf Zamir, officially opened the campaign.
"Tel Aviv must remain Tel Aviv," the ads read under his picture.
So they talked confidently about victory.
Today they may be optimistic, but they refrain from making firm statements, trying to avoid complacency.
"The war and the year before it, and the excellent performance of the municipality that he heads, proved that it is critical that Huldai continue for another term," declares the mayor's entourage.
"When everything around is on fire, Tel Aviv-Yafo must not be endangered."
the cards
Barbiei's election slogan mirrors his own.
The message is that Tel Aviv must change.
Its character and essence will not change, no one has any doubts about that.
The symbol of liberalism will remain liberal.
The requested change will come, she hopes, in the change of transportation.
"Israel needs a new leadership. Tel Aviv too," she and her deputy Tzipi Brand announce on election signs.
Barbie is trying to arouse the protest sentiment among the residents of the Israeli protest center.
To ride the wave of the year of blockades, disruptions and calls against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose memory has faded with the arrival of a much bigger event.
and create a parallel between the national and the local.
Netanyahu = Huldai.
If Israel needs new leadership, how is Tel Aviv different?
Barbie asks in a sequence of election videos.
This is the main password and the card with which she believes she can, perhaps, create a chance for herself to win the entire jackpot.
Orna Barbiei and Tzipi Brand on a sign for the elections/official website, no
In the deck in her hand are additional cards.
Declining quality of life - Tel Aviv has deteriorated from eighth place to 13th in the annual index published this month by the Central Bureau of Statistics: the extensive, non-stop construction, which has turned the city's appearance into that of a construction site, the lack of protection in educational institutions, the overcrowding and collision of scooter riders, electric bicycles and pedestrians on the sidewalks , with a continuous increase in the number of victims in accidents.
They are all topics she brought up in the last videos she posted.
This is not a random gathering - these are the main problems that bother the residents according to a survey they conducted at its election headquarters.
Some of the claims are well-founded, others do not really depend on the municipality, at least not exclusively.
It doesn't really matter.
A campaign like a campaign deals with plucking at the strings of emotion, anger, disappointment, less in truth.
Therefore, the effectiveness of all of these depends on another element - the residents' feeling that the municipality under Huldai's command wants their best, and works to improve their quality of life.
It seems that the Tel Aviv municipality has managed in recent years to be characterized by such an image, despite the ongoing problems.
The real answer will be revealed on February 27.
Barbie in home circle/official website, no
Major Barbibai, the former head of the personnel department in the IDF, enlisted in the reserves during the Iron Swords outbreak and accompanied the residents of Netiv HaThara. She also felt that she was unable, and would not want, to conduct a campaign during a war. At a certain point, she had no choice. If she wanted to win, she She has to try harder than her opponent.
In the last few weeks, she has returned to fitness. Every wait for the bus is accompanied by a look at her face appearing on the new advertising signs at the stations. She plows the area, visits the neighborhoods and listens to the residents' complaints, organizes home circles and convenes a weekly women's meeting about "The Future of Tel Aviv" and The necessary change in our city."
Even when the critical period for her victory comes, Barbiei believes in a positive attitude, making sure not to stoop low by defaming Huldai. According to her, the internal polls show that her chances of winning are real even without dirty fights. "60% of the residents say a change is needed.
I saw that I was keeping my strength even though I dedicated myself to the war," she claims in a conversation with Walla!.
The Mecca of the city.
Young man riding an electric bike / Image processing, Shutterstock
However, it does not lack claims to its competitor.
"This is a dynamic and progressive city. The mayor is unable to keep up with the pace of change. Most of his years in office worked for Tel Aviv, but in the last five years the city has run away from him," she slams.
"Tel Aviv Municipality is not trying hard enough to improve. The perception of the resident is not the most important thing in its eyes. Its need to run forward exceeds the here and now."
"If there was a wrong conception over the years and we kidnapped on October 7, even at the municipal level we need to check if the conceptions are correct," Barbiei states.
Not sure her offers are that different.
The issue of differentiation from Huldai was and remains an Achilles' heel for her.
Although she wants to carry out some improvements in the second largest city in Israel, the vision of the two for Tel Aviv is similar.
According to her, there is no need for a dramatic change, only a refresh.
In a comical coincidence, even their last names end the same.
In the three weeks she has left, she will try to prove that the alternative she offers is tempting enough to move one of Tel Aviv's symbols from his chair.
More on the same topic:
Tel Aviv Jaffa
The elections to the local authorities
Ron Huldai
Orna Barbiei