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Israel Action Committee Report: As the capital of Israel, Jerusalem is an earthly city, yet, unlike most of the world’s capitals, it also has a theological component described as the “sum of all the Jewish people’s yearnings and beliefs.” King David, the person most identified with Jerusalem, shaped its character as both the political and religious center for the tribes of Israel when he positioned the Ark of the Covenant in the capital. Nearly three millennia later, Teddy Kollek, the charismatic mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993 who presided over the re-unification of Jerusalem after the Six Day War, established public institutions to guide Jerusalem’s development as a thriving, cosmopolitan and modern city. Today, Jerusalem is a city of 760,000 people and encompasses an astonishing number of houses of worship. In Jerusalem, there are 996 synagogues, 139 churches and 72 mosques. The current mayor of Jerusalem is Nir Barkat, a secular high-tech entrepreneur who was educated at The Hebrew University. Jerusalem’s deputy mayor, Naomi Tsur is a linguist, environmentalist and the mother of four children with her composer husband. She made Aliyah to Israel in 1966 from Bristol, England. Tsur’s two main priorities for Jerusalem are to increase the socio-economic level of its population and to promote sustainable development. According to Tsur, the challenge is to “restore the city to its residents. In many ways, Jerusalem has been taken from the realm of urban issues and pushed into being a geopolitical problem.” She insists that the “geopolitical divisions of Jerusalem in all their combinations are not relevant to the city as a sustainable city. It has to be run as one with its transport system, its garbage system, its sewage system, its communications system, and it has to be shared and enjoyed by all its residents….” In these areas, she notes that there are recycling centers in all schools in Jerusalem in all sectors and that progress is being made to unify sewage treatment procedures for the eastern and western sides of Jerusalem. Historic conservation and urban parks, throughout the city, are receiving greater emphasis in terms of proposed city regulations and plans. Stanley Fischer is the current governor of the Bank of Israel (BOI) which is located in Jerusalem near the Knesset Building. As bank governor, Fischer has been credited with capably advocating for new legislation recently passed by the Knesset which would actually dilute the power of the bank governor, but bring the operations of the BOI more in line with modern standards. He, along with a newly legislated committee, is responsible for setting bank monetary policies. The BOI also regulates the banking system, issues currency and manages foreign currency reserves. Fisher took on the position of BOI governor in 2005 after a long career in the MIT Economics Department and after having served as a director of the International Monetary Fund and a vice chair of Citigroup. He was born in Zambia. He is credited with helping limit Israel’s exposure during the global financial crisis by applying the experience he gained at the IMF regarding countries’ overspending. Partly as a result, the Israeli economy grew by 0.7 percent in 2009 when many economies contracted, and is expected to grow at a respectable 3.5 percent in 2010. In mid-March, Fischer was appointed to a second five-year term by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a recent Haaretz opinion poll, Fischer tied Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi for top approval rating – unprecedented for an Israeli central banker. Kayitz Tov! (Have a good summer!)
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