 Hi friends and subscribers, welcome back to my YouTube channel. My name is Daniel Rosel and this channel focuses on life underground in Jerusalem and in Israel. From today there are 50 days to go until municipal elections in Jerusalem and Israel. While the elections will yield a change of leadership throughout the country, my attention is focused on Jerusalem. This election campaign in Jerusalem is shaping up to be a battle for and against extremism on the city council, which is a pity because issues such as the cost of living and job creation are getting pushed off to the site. However, as the candidates and lists become clear, hopefully we can begin to see more constructive dialogue emerging around these issues. The extremism in the picture comes from Deputy Mayor R.A. King. As I've been covering in my recent videos, King has mounted a vitriolic campaign that has already targeted LGBT institutions, businesses open on Shabbat, and a swimming pool to offer a very abbreviated list. Last week, the left-leaning parties announced that they would be consolidating their list into a single block for the municipal election in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is both a religious and a politically conservative city. They tend to go hand in hand and so it tends to lean quite starkly to the right compared to other Israeli cities, especially Tel Aviv. So while the Israeli left wing has been decimated electorally at the national level, it's unsurprising that prospects aren't looking too rosy in Jerusalem for it and that candidates have made moves to avoid splitting the vote. Hitora Root did not choose to join the left's list and is thus standing alone as a centrist and pluralist party. At an event last night, their chairman, Adir Schwartz, announced that the party had taken the painful decision not to run a candidate for mayor in the forthcoming election. The party however said that its main objective is to counter the rise of extremism in the city and focus on delivering that positive change that I talked about earlier. There are currently 32 members in the Jerusalem City Council so strong results in the election could still allow Hitora Root to have influence in city affairs while working under a second term of the current Mayor Moshe Leon. Leon is widely assumed to be a shoe-in for the mayoral aspect of the election, especially after last night's news. At their event yesterday evening, Hitora Root unveiled their full electoral list. It includes Chairman Adir Schwartz and Deputy Chair Miriam Sela in 1st and 2nd place, followed by Ariel Baziz, Yara Shiloh who is currently on the City Council, and Eyal Hashkes who is also the author of a book about economic bridge building in the Middle East. The list also includes further down, a rabbi, a disability rights activist, and a couple of political newcomers. The other major campaign used to occur yesterday was an announcement from Ian Pear, who is a well-known community rabbi at the egalitarian Orthodox Sier-Khadaj congregation in the German colony. As well as being a community rabbi, Pear is an author of several books including The Accidental Zionist. In a Facebook post, Pear said that despite his hesitation to do so, he was throwing his kippah into the ring by running for city council. Pear said that he has been working with one of the deputy mayors of Jerusalem, Haggit Moshe, and said that he will be joining her list for the election. Pear said that while he has often dismissed local politics in Jerusalem as being negative, angry, and divisive, his focus, if elected, would be serving the needs of the immigrant community in Jerusalem, searching for compromise, and trying to bring civility to the debate around municipal issues. So what to make of all this? The cut-off for candidates to announce themselves is September 21st, so there's only 10 more days before the outcome of all these shufflings will make itself clear, and they can hopefully all begin talking in positive terms about what constructive change they wish to lead in city council. With the Torah Root confirming officially that they won't be running a candidate for mayor, and outrage mounting against the anti-secular campaign that Arye King has been mounting, it seems almost certain that Moshe Leon will be re-elected for a second term, simply because he's sorted the best of all worlds for many Jerusalem residents, he's religious but not too religious, he's conservative but not too extreme, etc. This all leaves on the table how parties and candidates can work with the local government led by him to architect important change for the city. Thanks for watching today's video, and if you'd like to get more videos from me, please consider liking and subscribing.