Itamar Shimoni

Itamar Shimoni (Hebrew: איתמר שמעוני‎; born 1968) is an Israeli politician and current mayor of Ashkelon, Israel. He was arrested on January 5, 2016 on charges that include bribery, breach of trust, money laundering and rape. His attorney says his client is innocent.[1]

Early life and education

Shimoni has a B.A. in Business Administration, Engineering in Industrial Management.[2]

Career

He has served as CEO of Atarim, Creative Manager at Teva, and CEO of Dasco, one of Israel's largest furniture manufacturing companies.

Political career

In October 2013, Shimoni became mayor of Ashkelon when he defeated the incumbent, Benny Vaknin, who had served four terms. He quickly declared war on organized crime in the city, and ordered the bulldozing of a restaurant owned by crime boss Shalom Domrani's family.[3] In November 2013, he removed children from Ashkelon schools who had been exposed to radiation and arranged for them to enter schools elsewhere.[4]

In November 2014, Shimoni unleashed a firestorm of criticism for announcing that he would not allow Arab workers to continue construction on shelters for Ashkelon's children. He said that his directive was in response to an attack at a Jerusalem synagogue earlier in the week, where two Palestinians from East Jerusalem killed four Jews and a Druze policeman, although unlike the perpetrators of the attack, the Arab workers in Ashkelon are Israeli citizens.[5] His remarks drew immediate reaction from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MK's who called the employment discrimination "racist" and "illegal."[6] Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced he would work to overturn Shimoni's directive.[7] Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein warned Shimoni against implementing his discriminatory plan, saying it would have serious legal ramifications. Nevertheless, a poll by Channel 10 showed that 58% of Israelis support the discriminatory practice, 32% did not approve and 10% did not know.[8] The only exceptions to the near universal condemnation of Shimoni's plan in the political arena were Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Likud MK Moshe Feiglin. It was reported that the police force in Ashkelon is not acting on the mayor's directive and instead, according to a senior officer, "will obey the law."[9] The equal employment commissioner in the Economy Ministry, Tziona Koenig-Yair, observed a jump in employment claims by Arabs who say they are suffering unemployment on racial grounds, and she threatened to battle the Ashkelon mayor in court if that is necessary to reverse his decision.[10]

On the Sunday following his controversial remarks, Shimoni backtracked on his decision. He said that he was trying to address concerns of parents, but would now allow construction to continue, with children moved to a different venue until completion. He added that at no time did he order Arabs to leave Ashkelon. Shimoni was apparently not alone among Israeli mayors in ordering discriminatory practices against Arabs following the attack in Jerusalem. Yehiel Lasri, mayor of nearby Ashdod allegedly targeted Arab workers for extra security checks.[11]

Personal

Shimoni is the father of three children.[12]

References

  1. ↑ [Ashkelon mayor arrested on rape, bribery allegations] The Times of Israel, 6 January 2016
  2. ↑ http://www.israelhls2014.com/speaker.ehtml?account=1620038
  3. ↑ "Ashkelon Mayor Declares War on Crime Bosses(Nov 13, 2013)"http://www.5towns.com/ashkelon-mayor-declares-war-on-crime-bosses/
  4. ↑ "Ashkelon: Schools Exposed to High Radiation Evacuated"http://www.dealnj.com/ashkelon-schools-exposed-to-high-radiation-evacuated/
  5. ↑ "Josef Federman 'Israeli mayor's ban on Arab workers ignites uproar' (Nov 20, 2014)"http://news.yahoo.com/israel-military-gaza-militants-test-rockets-090940001.html
  6. ↑ "Matan Tzuri: Ashkelon mayor: No Arab construction workers in kindergartens (Nov 21, 2014)" http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4594006,00.html
  7. ↑ "Shirly Seidler: Ashkelon mayor bars Arab construction workers from local kindergartens(Nov 20, 2014)" http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.627441
  8. ↑ "The times of Israel Staff and Spencer Ho: Ashkelon warned over Arab worker ban, as poll shows public support (Nov 20, 2014)"http://www.timesofisrael.com/ashkelon-mayor-warned-over-arab-worker-ban-but-public-backs-move/
  9. ↑ "Newman, Marissa: Nipped in the bud (Nov 21, 2014) The Times of Israel"http://www.timesofisrael.com/nipped-in-the-bud/
  10. ↑ "Josef Federman 'Uproar as Israeli mayor bans Arab workers'(Nov 21, 2014)"http://news.yahoo.com/uproar-israeli-mayor-bans-arab-workers-194049361.html
  11. ↑ "Ho, Spencer 'Ashkelon reportedly to let Arab workers finish kindergarten shelters' Times of Israel (Nov 23, 2014)"http://www.timesofisrael.com/ashkelon-reportedly-to-let-arab-workers-finish-kindergarten-shelters/
  12. ↑ "Maayan Jaffe: Meet The Mayor"http://jewishtimes.com/16813/meet-the-mayor/
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.