Itamar Shimoni
13th Mayor of Ashkelon
In office
2013–2017
Preceded byBenny Vaknin
Succeeded byTomer Gla'am
Personal details
Born(1968-04-09)9 April 1968
SpouseRevital Shimoni

Itamar Shimoni (Hebrew: איתמר שמעוני; born 1968) is an Israeli politician. He was the mayor of Ashkelon from 2013 to 2017.

Biography

Itamar Shimoni earned a B.A. in Business Administration, Engineering in Industrial Management.[1] He has three children.[2]

Business career

Shimon was CEO of Atarim, Creative Manager at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and CEO of Dasco, an Israeli furniture manufacturer.

Political career

In October 2013, Shimoni became mayor of Ashkelon when he defeated the incumbent, Benny Vaknin, who had served four terms. In his war on organized crime in the city, he ordered the closure of a restaurant owned by crime boss Shalom Domrani's family.[3] In November 2013, he evacuated Ashkelon schools found to have high levels of radiation.[4]

In November 2014, Shimoni announced that Arab construction workers would be banned from projects on the grounds of Israeli schools and kindergartens. This was in response to the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue massacre earlier that week, where two Palestinians from East Jerusalem killed four Jews and a Druze policeman.[5] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MKs denounced the ban, which they said was racist and illegal.[6] Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said he would work to overturn Shimoni's order.[7] Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein warned Shimoni against implementing his discriminatory plan, saying it would have serious legal ramifications.[8] On the Sunday following his remarks, Shimoni said that he was trying to address concerns of parents, but would allow construction to continue, with children moved to a different venue until completion.[9]

Shimoni was arrested on 5 January 2016 on charges of bribery, breach of trust, money laundering and rape.[10] In May 2016, he returned to City Hall.[11] The sex crime allegations were dropped due to lack of evidence.[12]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.israelhls2014.com/speaker.ehtml?account=1620038
  2. ↑ "Maayan Jaffe: Meet The Mayor"http://jewishtimes.com/16813/meet-the-mayor/
  3. ↑ "Ashkelon Mayor Declares War on Crime Bosses(Nov 13, 2013)"http://www.5towns.com/ashkelon-mayor-declares-war-on-crime-bosses/ Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  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)" https://news.yahoo.com/israel-military-gaza-militants-test-rockets-090940001.html
  6. ↑ "Matan Tzuri: Ashkelon mayorNo 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. ↑ "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/
  10. ↑ Pileggi, Tamar (5 January 2016). "Ashkelon mayor arrested on rape, bribery allegations". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  11. ↑ After rape, hush money arrest, Ashkelon mayor back on the job
  12. ↑ ""המשפט קורס ואני מאמין שאחזור לכהן"". 18 October 2018.
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