Hitorerut in ! Who We Are Hitorerut in Jerusalem is Jerusalem’s largest pluralist and Zionist party.

We are the energetic and optimistic people of Jerusalem.

We are the ones that will fight to get better services for the citizens, we are the ones who take care of the small interests of each and every citizen, we are the ones who have the macro and big solutions to strengthen Jerusalem.

While we don’t belong to right or left wing, we create our own path. Uniting both secular and religious Jerusalemites, social and ambitious, diverse and 100% for Jerusalem, with a modern vision for a city that has defined the world’s history, we are here to define and guarantee an even greater future of Jerusalem.

We have chosen to step up and founded Hitorerut in 2008 to secure its future as a vibrant, creative, and tolerant city, central to ’s economic success. In 2013, 25,000 Jerusalemites voted for us to represent them in the City Council, making Ofer Berkovicth the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, and giving him the support of three other city councilors Einav Bar Cohen, Elad Malka and Yoav Bakshi- Yeivin. Our work centers on Jerusalem’s economic development, its cultural revolution, and making it a more attractive choice for young families.

We are here to turn Jerusalem into a city everyone wants to live in. We are here because we are not going to wait for someone else to deal with Jerusalem’s issues. We are here to take responsibility for our capital.

Ofer Berkovitch, our candidate for Mayor of Jerusalem Ofer, together with friends, founded Hitorerut in 2008, at the age of 25. After six years in the IDF, during which he served as an officer in a secret unit of the ground forces, he started to build the party that would secure the Zionistic, pluralistic and productive future of Jerusalem. Ofer was the youngest elected council member ever in Jerusalem and served as a volunteer for [email protected] 5 years until 2013. +972-54-752-2790

Ofer received his BA in philosophy, economic and political science from The Hebrew University graduating with honors. Afterwards, he joined the elite Maoz program for leadership in the public service in cooperation with Harvard University. Ofer is married to Dina, a French Ola Hadasha (new immigrant) and is a father of 2. They live in Nachlaot.

During his first term in office, Ofer was given the youth portfolio and was appointed as the chairman of the municipal culture committee. He doubled the city’s youth budget and quadrupled the number of participants in youth activities, thus winning the distinguished award for the most successful youth department in 2011.

In 2013, Hitorerut grew from one seat in the council to four and Ofer was appointed as Deputy Mayor. He also took the portfolios of economic development, culture, and of the renewal of the city center. During his mandate and under his leadership, Jerusalem grew from 200 to 512 tech companies in just 3 years. Ofer is leading the struggle to bring back 165 national government offices to Jerusalem in accordance to the law, an achievement that would bring 10.000 jobs to Israel’s capital.

As part of his vision to make Jerusalem a preferred choice for young people to work and live in, Ofer worked to provide solutions to the housing crisis. For example, he promoted national legislation to reduce the phenomenon of vacant residences in the city, thus increasing the city’s housing supply.

Seeing Jerusalem as Israel’s cultural capital, Ofer doubled the budget for the cultural institutions, strongly supported young artists and created special and authentic events in each of Jerusalem’s many neighborhoods.

After 9 years of total commitment to Israel’s capital, Ofer decided to take the next step in realizing Hitorerut’s vision for the city.

Noting that stopped working for Jerusalem’s interests and instead has turned his focus and energy to his own national political ambitions, Ofer understood that the time has come for Jerusalem to have a new kind of leadership and he submitted his candidacy for Mayor of the city.

Ofer is uniquely qualified to secure Jerusalem’s future as the thriving capital of Israel. He knows how to make sure the needs of Jerusalem’s diverse population will be met, emphasizing mutual respect and turning diversity into the city’s strength and model for the rest of Israel.

Ofer is uniquely qualified to be the next Mayor of Jerusalem, and we want you to join us in making this happen.

Jerusalem’s Challenges Jerusalem is Israel’s historical capital, and while this inspiring fact is part of Jerusalem’s beauty, it is also part of its complexity. Secular, traditional, religious, ultra-Orthodox, and Arab communities all live together. This creates a potential for tension but Hitorerut believes it also creates a potential for creating a model of co-existence.

One of Jerusalem’s central challenges is economic, as too many people are leaving Jerusalem because of the lack of quality jobs being offered in the city. Therefore, it is imperative to create quality jobs in the city to stop the emigration to the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Aside from these central challenges, we also need to create vibrant cultural events year-round throughout all the city’s neighborhoods. We need to keep the city clean. We need improvements in infrastructure, to build new parks, to fix roads and public structures. We need to make Jerusalem a place where it is easy to open a new business or launch a startup. We need to stop the rise in housing prices. We need to improve public transportation.

The challenges Jerusalem faces today are the challenges all Israeli cities will face tomorrow. We are not afraid to face these challenges. We are here to deal with the issues head on.

Hitorerut’s Achievements Hitorerut has led the way in both the economic and culture revolutions that have occurred in Jerusalem by using the economic and cultural portfolios to create a real change in these two important areas.

In the field of economic development, we boosted the presence of High Tech in Jerusalem which saw a growth from 200 to 512 companies in 3 years! This happened thanks to our High Tech focused development program. We brought one of the most innovative concept, Wework, to our city at a very early stage.

We doubled the municipal cultural budget and created festivals in 10 of the city’s neighborhoods. Jerusalem has now become a leading cultural hub in Israel.

We also pushed to repair and upgrade 100 playgrounds and neighborhood parks. We helped local NGOs get municipal support. We got youth organizations 13 new structures and increased participation in youth activities across town by a factor of 6. We recruited Jerusalem’s sports teams to fight racism and violence. We saved the Lev Smadar historical cinema that was set to be closed down. We worked to build the Agron student housing in downtown Jerusalem, providing unprecedented prices for Jerusalem’s students. We created new and improved commercial districts across the city.

We managed to achieve all these things, and many others, thanks to the leadership of Ofer Berkovitch as Deputy Mayor, his wonderful team of 3 city councilors, Bar Cohen, Malka and Bakshi Yeivin working very hard on a volunteer basis, and the support of hundreds of volunteers and activists. Just imagine what we can do with eight city councilors, and with Ofer Berkovitch as the mayor!

Our vision for the Future of Jerusalem Jerusalem’s traditional challenges are coupled now with a new challenge. There is a crisis in leadership in Jerusalem. The current mayor of Jerusalem has set his eyes on national politics and is now using Jerusalem as a stepping stone. He has stopped acting in Jerusalem’s interest and the latest crisis between Barkat and Kahlon, based on personal and national political interests of Barkat, illustrates the damages this development causes to our capital.

Hitorerut believes that Jerusalem needs to have a mayor that is 100% dedicated to the city. We also believe we need a mayor that will care both about the big picture, but also about the small details affecting the daily lives of Jerusalem residents. The streets of Jerusalem should remain clean, the problems of regular residents should be listened to and dealt with and the diverse groups of Jerusalem’s population should each feel their needs are addressed through mutual respect. Creating a better quality of life for Jerusalem’s residents is important, and also of strategic importance in convincing them to stay and live in the city.

On the economic front, Hitorerut believes that we must continue encouraging large companies to move their offices to Jerusalem, while at the same time encouraging young innovators to start their companies in Jerusalem. The advantage of being the city with Israel’s best university should give us a leading edge. Small businesses should also be allowed to thrive without being bothered with bureaucracy.

In the near future, a high-speed train will connect Jerusalem and central Israel, and a new city center will be inaugurated with thousands of squared meters of office space. This presents a great opportunity for growth of the business sector in Jerusalem while also presenting a challenge in preserving Jerusalem’s special atmosphere.

Jerusalem should not be a city running after the successes of other cities. We should be the leading city in Israel – a model of success for all. This success should be seen both in the economical growth of the city, and in our ability to make sure all residents enjoy the fruits of this growth and have their needs addressed by the city’s elected officials.

We Need You Hitorerut is still a new political party that finds its roots and strength in more than 500 volunteers who believe in the great potential Jerusalem has. We are not backed by any of the national political parties or beholden to wealthy donors. Our surprising achievement in 2013 was backed by crowd-funding and loans from people who believe in our vision of Jerusalem and our ability to achieve big things in our capital. But since 2013, things have changed: Jerusalem’s mayor is focused on national politics at the expense of the city’s residents. To deal with Jerusalem’s many challenges, Jerusalem needs a mayor who’s 100% in Jerusalem.

In the coming elections, we have decided to step up and run our own candidate for Mayor, because Jerusalem needs to Wake Up. We need you to do this. Join us, and together we will turn Jerusalem into the city it should be.

To support Ofer Berkovitch and Hitorerut, please phone Nava at +972 (0)52 403 5599

To organize a meeting with Ofer Berkovitch with your friends, collegues, family, please be in touch with Yamit at +972 (0)54 213 3320