On April 22, Dimona Mayor Benny Biton orchestrated one of this year's most publicized Mimouna celebrations, marking the end of Passover in Moroccan hospitality tradition. That publicity was due to the parade of senior politicians that Biton managed to congregate in the southern city’s Ben Gurion forest.

Biton circulated like a bridegroom on his wedding day between Ministers Gideon Sa’ar, Gilad Erdan, Yisrael Katz, Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Knesset members Reuven Rivlin and Tzachi Hanegbi. For their part, the VIPs showered praises and affectionate gestures on the mayor as they uttered empty phrases about the importance of the Mimouna holiday for bringing communities together. By the way, this entire group of respectable politicians swung by several different Mimouna feasts between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, mainly in the periphery cities that have large populations of Moroccan-born residents.

The photos taken at the Dimona event that were disseminated on news websites showed Katz and Sa’ar, each costumed in a colorful Moroccan kaftan dress over their suits, next to an elated Biton with a tarboosh hat on his head and a white kaftan on his body. Not surprisingly, some of these pictures decorate Biton’s Facebook page as testimony to his excellent contacts with Israel’s government elites.

Biton, elected only a few months ago (October 2013) as Dimona’s mayor, may be described as “a heavyweight Likud politico” in the party jargon. He is the type that Likud Knesset members and ministers want on their side during primary season when the Knesset list is determined. That is why he managed to bring the leading party representatives to Dimona on Tuesday.