Safra Square – The new look

Here are the factions with their respective leaders and portfolios:

Post-election, who’s who at Safra Square? (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Post-election, who’s who at Safra Square?
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Thirty city council members, one new mayor without any representative and the largest opposition ever seen at the council – this is the new group that will lead Jerusalem’s affairs for the next five years. Hitorerut head Ofer Berkovitch, who came close to landing the mayoral gig, has finally decided – after two months of repeated and failed attempts to reach an agreement with Mayor Moshe Lion – to remain in the opposition. His list has seven seats, the largest-ever opposition group at the council. 
But with all due respect to the importance of being a representative of city residents at the council, what really matters for the daily life of Jerusalemites is who is who on the committees – and even more so, who heads some of the most important committees. That was the main reason for Berkovitch’s decision to renounce entering the coalition; he was refused the helm (a partnership) of the prestigious local planning and construction committee.
Here are the factions with their respective leaders and portfolios:
Aguda (Yossi Daitch) – Sanitation (together with Mayor Lion); historical site preservation; haredi employment.
Shas (Zvika Cohen) – Haredi youth, sport, education administration and community centers; finance; plot and public venue allocations; absorption of olim.
Degel Hatorah (Eliezer Rauchberger) – Public real estate; financing haredi education; haredi culture; local planning and construction; welfare administration; mass transportation; infrastructure; city supervisors; religious use  of public venues. 
Bnei Torah (Haim Epstein) – Public health; Tipat Halav clinics.
Jerusalem Will Succeed (Yehuda Ben-Yossef and Fleur Hassan-Nahoum) – Small businesses; veterinary services; foreign relations; fund-raising for Jerusalem.
Meretz (Laura Wharton) –  Empowering women; senior residents.
Bayit Yehudi (Hagit Moshe) – Education; communities; special-needs persons; seniors.

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Likud (Elisha Peleg) – Sport; emergencies and security.
Meuhadim (Arieh King) – Youth movements; community centers and local councils; Jewish heritage
Saving Jerusalem (Yossi Havilio) – Parking; youth authorities.