with ancient Westerns, even the most convoluted stories culminate with a combat between the two main protagonists, with good winning.
However, life may be difficult and infinite. The town loses, not the sheriff or his opponent.
In our example, the town is the capital of Israel, a complicated city with over a million people, including a third ultra-Orthodox Jews and a third Arabs (who are residents, not citizens).
This narrative has no good, bad, or ugly. A strong mayor has kept his 2018 election campaign promises by cleaning up the city and strengthening its public transit infrastructure, especially light rail. He faces a city citizen, an activist who refuses to enter politics and stays anchored in civic society.
Mayor Moshe Lion and activist Yossi Saidov compete.
Yossi Saidov, a journalist turned social entrepreneur, is heavily involved in local and social projects that improve the situation of small citizens. He’s confronting Lion on public transit, traffic, and the city’s ecology and people’ well-being.
Lion is the top contender in the forthcoming mayoral race, mostly because he has no actual competition, although we have heard of an Arab mayoral candidate. Despite the relevance of an eastern city resident entering the election campaign, his chances against Lion, who is so connected to government and Knesset leaders, are slim.
Lion and Saidov’s personal conflict stems from their status discrepancies. Lion is an established national figure, whereas Saidov is a volunteer social activist. Lion has a strong mechanism. Saidov was chosen chairman of the Gonen local council administration, his area, in a contentious process.
Saidov said that Lion’s dissatisfaction over his victory led to the mayor’s staff taking over community governance.
Moshe Lion vs. Yossi Saidov: Israel’s capital’s ongoing feud
Saidov’s strength comes from his perceived weakness. He would have been disadvantaged if he had stood for city council.
Despite his lack of formal power, he has created a conflict with different regulations that makes him difficult to ignore.
What irritates Saidov? He criticizes Lion’s “lack of vision” most.
Lion’s city cleanup should not be overlooked, Saidov said. But he is worried by the mayor’s support of projects that undermine urban life, such as parking lots instead of public transit or the railway park for the Berech road, which would ruin one of the city’s assets.
Saidov particularly dislikes the mayor’s WhatsApp’s “illusion of openness and listening to everyone.” Saidov believes that WhatsApp is not suitable for organizing Jerusalem, despite the mayor’s and people’ unity.
Saidov notes that Jerusalem, Israel’s largest and poorest city, deserves state-level assistance. While conceding that no mayor alone can fix Jerusalem’s poverty problem, Saidov is sure that Lion, more than anyone else, can engage the required governmental assistance to ameliorate that condition, but he refuses to do so.
Saidov is a minor issue at the six-story Safra Square skyscraper. This fight may go a long time as he refuses to play politics and plays by his own rules.
