Elections #1: A Communist Mayor for Tel-Aviv?

[This is the start of a regular series on the elections taking place in Israel. As Palestinian president Abbas is supposed to leave his office in January, we might add the Palestinian elections to the mix.]

Israel has municipal elections on November 11. My friend Tom Wegner told me earlier this year that the Israeli public is fed up and disgusted with politics, and this was reflected in the low level of interest in municipal races. Even with the Knesset headed for elections soon, the mood hasn't exactly change dramatically. But there is one bright (red) star in the firmament, making waves: Dov Khenin (sometimes spelled Hanin).

Full disclosure: Dov is my friend from childhood. While he was studying law and I was in high school, his wife recruited me to 'Youth Against Racism', a group of kids organized against the Kahanist movement. I visited them frequently, and see them both as having had a profound influence on who I am today.

Dov is a member of Knesset for Hadash, a coalition dominated by the Communist Party of Israel. As one of three Hadash MK's elected mostly with Arab votes, one would expect him to be eternally on the political margins of mainstream politics. But something interesting has happened over the past ten years: Dov became an enthusiastic environmentalist (with the help of the Heschel Center) and rode that wave to popularity with that broad social movement. As an MK, he leads the poverty caucus where he has made tons of friends from across the political spectrum. He is known as one of the most productive, mild-mannered, pleasant, engaging and intellectual politicians in the country.

In Tel-Aviv, his candidacy is supported by a non-partisan coalition called "City for Us All". In other words, he is running with a slate of good folks representing the city's social movements: greens, poverty activists, students, youth, etc. The vast majority of his supporters and likely voters would NOT have voted for Hadash. But since the mayor of Tel-Aviv has little influence on peace and security issues, and Dov is so greatly respected on domestic issues, the list is actually the main rival to the incumbent mayor, Ron Hulda'i.

[Random note: "Dov" means "bear" in Hebrew, and "Hulda" means "rat", so folks are calling this a contest between the bear and the rat. Nice.]

Ricky B of the Church of Here and Now has written a nice profile of Dov with lots of interesting local color:

But with the last bits of open space, greenery and public beaches going fast the way of the Dodo, With Parking Lot Mentality gripping all rungs of the ladder, it's time for someone you know ain't going to work for a big corporate behemoth when his gig is up. Dov Khenin doesn't want to give back Jaffa to the "Arabs", and couldn't if he did, even if elected mayor. He would like, among many other aspects of a progressive civilian agenda, to stop treating the majority Arabs of Jaffa as a residual nuisance and start treating them as equal citizens in their own city.

Here's a nice election video partly in English. For those of you not familiar with Israel, be warned: It's a homemade brew featuring an Israeli dub group (Zvuloon Dub System) toasting in Jamaican sounding English with a bit of Hebrew mixed in and strange sound effects.

I'm definitely rooting for Dov, or as his friends know him, Dubi. Those of us in the US who dream of a different kind of Israel can take heart; while Tel-Aviv might not actually elect this guy, Tel-Aviv is showing that it's definitely a city worth fighting for. Stay tuned....