The debate was held at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. Eight of the sixteen parties running were represented. I did not hear if all 16 parties were invited and some declined to send a speaker, or some were not invited at all. Two of the lists also represented candidates for mayor. There's a third candidate for mayor, who I haven't heard anything about, his party wasn't there either. On the stage was a moderator (whose name I did not write down), a stand-up comedian (why?) who told some jokes before the debate (why?), had a gong to let speakers know when their time was up (why a gong?), and interrupted speakers with remarks that were sometimes serious questions and sometimes jokes.
The candidates were mostly party heads, two lists sent people from lower down on the list. First they got up and briefly introduced themselves, I didn't write what they said then because I was taking pictures, which are on Facebook. In the order that they were called on to speak, they were (with the letters on their ballots next to their names)
נר Roi Folkman, #6 Yerushalayim Tatzliach (Nir Barkat's list)
ץ Naomi Tzur, head of Ometz Lev
מחל Hila Yedid Barzilai, #7 Likud-Beiteinu (Moshe Leon's list)
ים Rachel Azaria, head of Yerushalmim (I'm voting for this list)
מרצ Pepe Alalú, head of Meretz Havoda
ק Aryeh King, head of Yerushalyim Meuchedet
טב Dov Kalmanovitz, head of Habayit Hayehudi
הת Ofer Berkovitz, head of Hitorrerut
The first part of the debate was about religious/secular issues.
The Likud speaker was asked whether the party is haredi or dati/secular. She said that it supports the status quo, what is open will remain open. Aryeh Deri (whose Shas party is supporting Leon) is not their spokesman. Asked if Moshe Leon actually lives in Jerusalem she said he was selected by the primaries process and if he was not eligible to run for mayor he would have been disqualified then.
The Barkat speaker (I'm going to use that instead of Yerushalayim Tatzliach) was asked about Cinema City (which Barkat has supported not opening on Shabbat), and he didn't quite answer that question, instead he said that there will be no incursions of religious institutions into secular neighborhoods and entertainment on Shabbat will continue. Why do some chassidic groups support Barkat? He hopes the pluralistic parties will get more seats but Barkat needs a large party to resist haredi pressure (that wasn't exactly an answer either, so much as he needed to get that said).
The Hitorrerut speaker said that Barkat will be better able to resist haredi pressure if you vote for the pluralistic parties and said that his party had kept Ramat Sharet from going haredi.
The Yerushalmim speaker mentioned the fight against exclusion of women (a term which I've heard her credited for bringing from academic articles into political discussions), fight extremists, strengthen moderates. As an example of strengthening haredi moderates she said she had helped with a haredi school that will prepare students for matriculation exams.
The Bayit Yehuda speaker said the party has a new message, it is inclusive, is a bridge between religion and secular parties. Asked why religious voters should vote for him when all the lists have religious people he said this is a problem, they should be unified, which sounded to me like he was saying that all datiim ought to support his party.
Meretz: we opened the city on Shabbat, restaurants, movies, entertainment, the Karta parking lot. There should be shared taxis on Shabbat but they will not put discos in haredi neighborhoods. Cinema City should be open on Shabbat.
Ometz Lev: for 15 years haredi schools have been taking over dati/secular schools, we're a diverse list with datiim, a sefardi woman, and a woman rabbi.
King: Agrees with previous speaker that haredi takovers of schools is a problem but the reason is that they weren't given enough schools in their own neighborhoods. Atarot airfield should have been turned into a Jewish neighborhood, but it wasn't, so they have to try to take over secular areas.
The next section was about employment and housing.
Berkovitz was asked: your list promised to work against ghost apartments (apartments bought by people who don't live in the country and keep them empty most of the time) but the number has increased. He said that they're raising taxes on them and want to tax other unoccupied property (like uninhabited buildings which currently are exempt from tax) so the owners will renovate them and sell/rent them.
King asked Berkovitz about building in East Jerusalem, Berkovitz's answer was unclear (I wrote "waffle" in my notes).
Kalamovitz said he is an accountant, there is not enough money, the problems need help from the national government and his party holds the housing ministry and other useful ones
Alalú said build 5,000 units in the Talpiot Industrial Zone.
Folkman said he hopes the Bayit Yehudi ministers work for everyone and that this is not a banana republic. There should be more places to work for Arabs and Haredim, small apartments and rentals should be built for young families, about 2,000 apartments were built but this is not enough, existing buildings should be expanded or demolished to make room for more units.
Azaria said that there are empty units in unattractive neighborhood like Talpiot Mizrach and Gonen, so she is working to improve things like schools so people will want to live there, sort of like New Yorkers can live in Brooklyn and commute to Manhattan.
Tzur: the problem is demand, not supply, the construction industry waits for demand before building, make people want to live here. The railway park improves the quality of life.
Barzilai: Leon raised money when he was head of the Jerusalem Development Authority and will continue if he is mayor.
The next section was about transportation, property tax, and sanitation
Barzilai continued that Leon will raise money to increase the sanitation budget. Asked about an election poster that says that Jerusalem has property taxes like Manhattan and services like Damascus, but isn't that because her (haredi) voters don't pay property taxes. She said they are exempted according to law. It should be easier to get building permits.
Berkovitz: create services to help small business. Property taxes should be reduced for people who can't work, but not for the voluntarily poor. At this point he left to go to another event.
Alalú: the Interior Ministry got in the way of reforms, such as updating property tax rates in changing neighborhoods. People used to go to Tel Aviv for entertainment. We need to help students find jobs so they will stay in the city.
Tzur: improve sanitation by fining litterers
King: train teenagers to not litter, dumpsters are more important that culture.
Kalamovitz: property taxes do not raise enough money to fund the city, collect it from more residents so we can clean the city.
Azaria spoke about the number two on the Likud list, Dudi Amsalem, who like Leon, does not live in Jerusalem. He currently works in the municipality and she looks forward to how he'll have to leave that job to become a city councillor and will no longer be able to hold up programs approved by the council.. Bus lines should be rearranged so they don't mostly head into the center of town to make it easier to get crosstown faster.
Folkman: transportation problems were inherited from previous administrations. There should be more light rail lines (someone from the audience shouted out, and run by a different company, he said he agreed but didn't know if that would be possible), and sanitation should be privatized.
The next round was about who each list supports for mayor.
Barzilai was asked "why an accountant from Givatayim" (which is where Leon is from), she said look at his resume (someone from the audience shouted, also his criminal resume).
Folkman: Barkat kept a coalition together, engages in honest politics
Alalú: most of us (in his list) are for Barkat but he's not for either. Palestinians are 37% of the population but get 13% of the budget, sanitation is much worse in Arab neighborhoods.
Tzur: I support Barkat, but no party endorsement. Neither mayor's list has a woman before position six. Half of the council should be women.
King: we had three parlor meetings in East Jerusalem, he doesn't trust Barkat who he calls a leftist. The party isn't endorsing anyone, he will vote for Leon.
Kalamovitz: polls show the datiim support Barkat (which wasn't quite the question). When asked who he'll vote for, said "what does it matter?"
Azaria: we had problems with Barkat, but given the choice, we support him. She asked if she could add a word about East Jerusalem, when the moderator said "just one word", she said just "yes", which wasn't very clear.
After the debate, they showed All The King's Men (the 2006 version). Critics generally preferred the 1949 version.
