Jerusalem agrees to honor Prof. Yeshayhu Leibowitz after years of strife
Rightists and ultra-Orthodox city council members have repeatedly protested against naming of street after renowned Israeli Orthodox philosopher who spoke out against the occupation, settlements and the IDF.
The Jerusalem municipality finally agreed to name a street after the renowned intellectual, philosopher and scientist Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz Thursday, ending years of council strife over the matter.
The municipality also decided to officially honor rightist American business magnate Sheldon Adelson, who is a close supporter and friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Councillor Meir Margalit (Meretz) said the two proposals were adopted as a sort of package deal, in which each political faction could boast an achievement. Most rightist council members abstained in the vote, while Shas members voted against the move, due to Leibowitz’s criticism of its spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
Leibowitz, who was an Orthodox Jew, never hesitated to speak out against the occupation and the settlements. Time and again since his passing in 1994, proposals were raised to honor his memory by naming a street after him. However, they were repeatedly shot down by rightist and ultra-Orthodox council members, who protested against the scholar’s controversial utterances denouncing the Israel Defense Forces and the occupation.
Mayor Nir Barkat, who was a student of Leibowitz’s in “the philosophy of biology,” pledged to pass the motion. At the beginning of April the council withdrewthe motion at the last moment, after rightist and Haredi council members united to vote against it. Barkat had promised to raise the proposal again soon.
Councillor Elisha Peleg (Likud), who objected to the move earlier this month, said Thursday, “I haven’t changed my opinion about Leibowitz. But I’m open to the public sentiments and mood, and I’ve received numerous requests from people, including Likud people, saying many people who contributed a lot less than Leibowitz have had streets named after them. So I decided to abstain.”
“Finally we succeeded in honoring Leibowitz,” said Deputy Mayor Yosef ‘Pepe’ Alalu (Meretz), who has been fighting for 16 years to name a street after the scholar. “But the honor is Jerusalem’s, who gained a street in his name. If anyone deserves a street, it’s Leibowitz.”
The street bearing Leibowitz’s name will be in Givat Ram, possibly on the Hebrew University campus, where Leibowitz worked as a scientist.
The city also decided to set up a park named after Ornan Yekutieli, a former Jerusalem councillor and a key activist in the battle against religious coercion in the capital. Yekutieli, one of the most important leaders of Jerusalem’s secular public in the 1980s and ‘90s, had asked to be commemorated in a public garden where people could speak and debate, Hyde Park-style.
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