Members of the Hisorarus party were astonished on Monday, 2 Kislev, to discover the approval of a budget update of about 400,000 NIS for the Bnei Akiva Baka branch was thwarted in the Jerusalem Finance Committee by Councilwoman Chagit Moshe.

The session included discussion for a building for the Bnei Akiva Baka branch, the largest branch in Jerusalem with 700 members. The branch was located in Efrata School and at the initiative of awakening moved to the agricultural farm complex and now the building is supposed to be significantly expanded.

Chagit Moshe is prevented from voting on the matter because her husband serves as the director of the Youth Movements Department. This is a conflict of interest, and therefore they expected that the council member would leave the conference room and allow her deputy, Aryeh King to vote, but because of political considerations she avoided leaving and that prevented the transfer of the budget as the vote on the budget was tied.

Chairman of Hisorarus Ofer Berkowitz, stated that “it is unthinkable that the chairman of the committee is acting contrary to the principled position of supporting a youth club for the national religious community in Baka because of minor political issues. Chagit Moshe had to leave the hall and allow Aryeh King to vote and not make cynical use of the voters’ expense. We must rise above political issues and advance the issues of the public in Jerusalem.

Council member Yoav Bakshi Yevin said: “We are working consistently to meet the needs of informal education in all sectors of the city. We were astonished to see that it was precisely those who were supposed to represent the national religious public that prevented the establishment of a branch for Bnei Akiva. It seems that Barkat, who was busy wiping out Hisorarus in Jerusalem in recent months, lost control of his own coalition, and he and his emissaries reached such a low plateau that they even hurt the city’s youth.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)