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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat took part in the festive cabinet meeting held on Thursday morning 25 Iyar ahead of Jerusalem Day. The event was held at the Ein Lavan Spring.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir called on the national government to stop ministries from relocating their offices outside of the capital. He called for national government investment into Yerushalayim to “strengthen the city’s growth engines”.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the festive cabinet meeting stated “We have come here, to a spring. This is well known to many of you, in our navigation exercises we had to find the well. We go to the spring and it seems that this is a custom not easily lost because this is exactly what we have done. We have come here to Jerusalem, to the source of a spring, the source of our people and our heritage, the place whose living waters have sustained us for thousands of years.

“We are developing and building Jerusalem. Today we will advance an NIS 850 million supplement to the Jubilee Plan. This is almost NIS 1 billion that we are investing in the development of Jerusalem, in technology and in companies. The face of Jerusalem is changing. There is an interesting technological development here. From Tzion shall go forth Torah, and it is going forth from the yeshivot; from Tzion shall go forth software [tochna in Hebrew] – and it is going forth from the new companies that we are cultivating here.

“We are investing very much in tourism infrastructures and in the infrastructures of various projects and in parks. Jerusalem really is a beautiful city. I welcomed the plan to develop cities. They say that this is the first for Jerusalem since the British were here, but a correction must be made: The first Jerusalem development plan was that of King David and King Solomon after him, but this is the first in the new era.

“Jerusalem is surrounded by parks and here we are in one of these marvelous parks; there are many others. And this plan touches on all of these areas, both the development of Jerusalem as an academic city, to increase the number of students in it – human, national and international capital that is moving the city forward.

“I am proud that we started this in previous governments, there is continuity. I know that all ministers will join in this wholeheartedly. I would like to thank you. I would like to congratulate you Mr. Mayor for your important, vigorous and dynamic leadership in developing our Jerusalem, the city of the patriarchs, our spring which constantly flows forward.

Thank you. Happy Jerusalem Day.”

The program for the major infusion of money into the capital is being led by PM Netanyahu, Finance Minister Kahlon and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin.

Mayor Barkat is calling on the national government to halt the migration of government offices from Jerusalem and work to bring additional offices to the capital.

Deputy Mayor Ofir Berkowitz boycotted the meeting for he questions just how they permit celebrating when in fact, the government is abandoning the city, holding back badly-needed funds.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)