Jerusalem has been a source of great satisfaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his friends on the pro-settlement right over the past year. The United States recognized the city as Israel’s capital and relocated its embassy there in May. This diplomatic coup boosted Netanyahu’s standing and his Likud party’s polling figures. The decision by veteran Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to run for a place on the Likud’s next Knesset list instead of running again at the Oct. 30 local elections turned his about-to-be-vacated mayor's office into a new quest for conquest. Netanyahu cannot afford to lose control over “the eternal capital of the Jewish people," whose residents go to the polls in municipal elections three months from now.
The decision by Ze’ev Elkin, the minister of Jerusalem affairs and minister of environmental protection, to run for the mayoralty should have made Netanyahu happy. Elkin is considered one of the most talented and serious members of the Likud party leadership, he is well known and enjoys support among national religious circles. However, much to the disappointment of this politician, who started his career in the now-defunct Kadima party, Netanyahu gave him the cold shoulder.