Lod is just 20 minutes from Tel Aviv. There is no other city in Israel that has gone through such turbulent political upheavals as Lod. Two years ago, Meir Nitzan, who had served as mayor of Rishon LeZion for more than 30 years, was called to the rescue and asked to run the city. He was preceded by a retired Israel Defense Forces officer, reserve Brig. Gen. Ilan Harari, and a retired police officer, Aryeh Bibi, who, each in turn, had also been called on similar rescue missions. The fact that the three were appointed to the mayor’s office without standing for election or applying for the job established the image of Lod as a city that is incapable of managing its own affairs and that is still not mature enough for democratic elections. “Running this city is an impossible mission,” I was told by Bibi, who had served as commissioner of the prison service before being called on to head the Lod City Council. His colleague Harari, addressing the Knesset, described the task as “the greatest municipal challenge in the country.”
Given the central location of Lod in Israel, all government ministries have pitched in to help the city and get it out of trouble. Prime ministers visited the city one after the other, lavishing promises aplenty. Alas, to no avail. In the absence of vital infrastructures, any of the residents who could afford it have fled the city.
