Aliza Bloch Mayor of Beit Shemesh at the local government conference 2022/Stills: Reuven Castro
The race for mayor of Beit Shemesh appears to be one of the most dramatic in the current round of elections for local authorities.
After five years in which Aliza Bloch, who sometimes took controversial steps for the city, held office, she will now face a public test for another term - and her competitors are particularly strong.
Unlike other cities where the incumbent mayor manages to achieve a bright victory or a failure that is almost a consensus - in Beit Shemesh the race is so close that no one can predict who will be the next mayor.
Mayor Aliza Bloch/official website, Sharon Gabai
Bloch is aimed at the general public, which makes up a third of the city.
Also, it is the closest option to the secular, the Detalim and some of the modern ultra-Orthodox who are not interested in living the ultra-Orthodox standard: those who are looking for progress alongside studying the Torah. Such a concentration is found en masse in neighborhood D in the city, but because of its diversity - it is a big question mark for the surveyors and all The candidates are courting him. Bloch is running a relatively quiet campaign compared to the other candidates, which concentrates on action in the last five years - and not on a negative one.
Shmuel Greenberg is a candidate for mayor of Degel Torah. Until recently, a member of the Beit Shemesh City Council and a prominent figure in the Jerusalem Municipality - and is now trying to run for mayor First of all with the help of the votes of the closed ultra-Orthodox communities, but we also reach out to the general public - as mentioned, also towards the level 4 community, but also towards the American public in the city: a large community in the city that is hardly politically involved, and in fact can vote for any of the candidates. Following his ultra-Orthodox-American image In the classic way, officials in the city claim that this could be a significant advantage for him. In recent days, Greenberg has been issuing frequent messages about communities that support him and continues an aggressive campaign under the slogan: "It's time for a change."
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Shmuel Greenberg/Official website, Matanel Malka
Moshe Abutbul is the candidate of Shas. Abutbul, the former mayor who currently serves as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, is returning with a new-old goal - to serve as mayor again. Bloch's years as the mayor of the city somewhat outnumbered his tenure in the last decade, and he actually uses the matter to his advantage. A candidate who knows Beit Shemesh's challenges well and has a high grip on national politics as a Knesset member. With the support of Shas, which dominates several government ministries, it seems that if he is elected - he will be able to relatively easily lead the moves he chooses.
In recent days, apart from the national Shas - Likud has also announced that they will support Abutbol, who, like Greenberg, boasts of signing agreements with various communities, and like others, woos the large communities that are in question - and it is not yet known who they will go with.
Moshe Abutbul/official website, Yaakov Cohen
Every time it seems that the elections in Beit Shemesh are particularly heated, perhaps it is the tremendous diversity of the communities that inhabit the city in relative balance (at least at the moment), when the general public has a guideline in the city, which may cause them to pull out their nails at the ballot box as well: even if they succeed in placing their candidate as mayor - Not sure that next time it will be possible.
More on the same topic:
Beit Shemesh
Elections to local authorities
The elections to the local authorities
Aliza Bloch
Moshe Abutbul