Uri Lupolianski

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Uri Lupolianski, mayor of Jerusalem

Uri Lupolianski was elected mayor of Jerusalem on June 6, 2003, after serving on the Jerusalem City Council from 1989. Lupolianski was Deputy Mayor, chairperson of the Planning and Building Committee and responsible for the Family Services and Community portfolio. He is currently a member of the National Building and Planning Committee and the Committee for the Development of Holy Places.

Born in Haifa in 1951, Lupolianski studied at the Yavne School in Haifa and then attended Yeshivat Hanegev. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as a paramedic and worked as a teacher at a religious school in Jerusalem.

In 1976, Lupolianski founded the Yad Sarah organization to help the elderly and disabled. This has earned him the President's Volunteer Prize; the Knesset Speaker's Award, the Kaplan Prize for Efficiency, and in 2004, the Israel Prize.

As mayor, Lupolianski has worked to create dialogue between residents of Jerusalem of all religious faiths^{[citation needed]}. He established a working relationship with Arab mukhtars in East Jerusalem and worked to diffuse the tension created by renovations of the walkway to the Temple Mount^{[citation needed]}.

Lupolianski has drawn up a multi-year plan for Jerusalem to strengthen its economy and improve life in the city^{[citation needed]}. These plans call for downsizing the municipal work force, building and upgrading parks, improving the physical appearance of the city, especially the downtown area, and providing the residents of Jerusalem with better municipal services. Under Lupolianski, greater emphasis has been placed on immigrant absorption and assistance to the thousands of new immigrants arriving in Jerusalem each year^{[citation needed]}.

To attract students to Jerusalem's institutions of higher education, Lupolianski inaugurated the "Lupolianski Package" which offers special tuition and housing subsidies to university students renting apartments in the city center. Hi-tech workers who choose to live and work in Jerusalem are also eligible for a monthly grant to cover part of their living expenses. ^[1]

Lupolianski is married to Michal Lupolianski. The couple has 12 children and 30 grandchildren.

[edit] Party and political relations

Lupolianski's party is Degel Hatorah which is now running to elections together with Agudat Israel in a united party called United Torah Judaism.

Lupolianski is quite close to Degel Hatorah's rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, and many consider this relationship to be a major reason for his political power.

In the 2003 municipal election Lupolianski ran for mayor under the United Torah Judaism ticket. This was part of a rotation deal which states that in the coming election the ticket will nominate a candidate from Agudat Israel. It should be noted that historically not all rotation deals in United Torah Judaism have been honored, including a municipal rotation agreement in Beitar Illit in 2007.

[edit] Criticisms

Lupolianski, himself an Orthodox Jew, has been accused of favoring religious Jews over secular ones and Jews over Arabs, and of basing municipal decisions on his religious views.^[2]

In recent years, Lupolianski has clashed with the Israeli Gay and Lesbian community for trying to stop or change the venue of their annual Gay pride parade in Jerusalem.^[3] ^[4] ^[5]