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Moshe Lion, or Moshe Leon (, born 6 October 1961), is an Israeli politician who is currently the Mayor of Jerusalem. He previously served as a member of the Jerusalem City Council, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, Chairman of the Israel Railways, and head of the Jerusalem Development Authority. Lion is the first mayor of Jerusalem of Sephardi descent.


Early life

Moshe Lion was born in the Florentin neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel, and attended . His father's family comes from
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, while his mother has roots in
Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
. As a child, he moved with his family to Givatayim. Lion served in the Israel Defence Forces, where he was assigned to the military chaplaincy and sang with the IDF rabbinical choir. He occasionally still leads
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
services. Lion graduated with a BA in economics and accounting from Bar-Ilan University, and interned in the office of Avigdor Yitzhaki, receiving his CPA in 1990. His brother, Dr. Nissim Lion, is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University.


Professional career

In 1991, Lion founded Yitzhaki & Co., together with Avigdor Yitzhaki and two other partners. Among his clients was the Likud movement, which he advised following their economic losses after losing the 1992 Knesset elections. He retired in 2017. In July 2014, he was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak.


Public career

In 1996, Lion was appointed managing director of the Prime Minister's Office of Benjamin Netanyahu, also becoming his economic adviser, serving in those roles till 1999. From 2003–2006, he was appointed chairman of the Israel Railways after having previously worked with the Ports and Railways Authority. Lion finished his term in 2006, after his term was not extended. In 2008, he was appointed chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority. Under his tenure, the First Station train complex in Jerusalem was completed.


Political career

Lion was chosen to help negotiate the forming of a government coalition following the Israeli elections of 2013, in the aftermath of which the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu parties joined together. In 2013, Lion ran for Mayor of Jerusalem, receiving 45% of the vote, but lost to Nir Barkat. The Likud party under his leadership received one mandate, and he became a member of the Jerusalem City Council on its behalf. In August 2015, Lion joined the municipal coalition and the faction of Mayor Nir Barkat. As part of the coalition agreement signed between the two, he began to serve as a member of the city administration, and as the holder of the community management portfolio. On 25 March 2018, Lion announced his intention to run for Mayor of Jerusalem in the 2018 Jerusalem mayoral election. During the campaign, Lion stated that he opposed the Netanyahu government's plan, put forward by Jerusalem Affairs Minister and campaign challenger Ze'ev Elkin, to erect a barrier dividing East Jerusalem from the rest of the city. Despite his broad Haredi political support, a coalition of Hasidic and extremist-Haredi Jerusalem Faction leaders declined to endorse Lion, citing his close ties to politician Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman advanced legislation to draft Haredis into the army, making Lion more likely to "secularize" Jerusalem, according to the Hasidic coalition. In the six-candidate general election held on 30 October 2018, Lion garnered 33% of the vote, while fellow Jerusalem city councilman Ofer Berkovitch finished in second place, with 29%. This earned them spots in a run-off election scheduled two weeks later, because according to election laws, candidates in municipal races must gain at least 40% of the vote in order to win. On 13 November, Lion won the run-off election with 50.85% of the vote, to Berkovitch's 49.15%, thereby becoming the first mayor of Jerusalem of Sephardi descent. Lion was re-elected in the 2024 Jerusalem municipal election with a landslide victory, garnering 81.5% of the vote.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lion, Moshe 1961 births Bar-Ilan University alumni City councillors of Jerusalem Israeli accountants Israeli hazzans Israeli military chaplains Israeli Orthodox Jews Israeli people of Greek-Jewish descent Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent Israeli Sephardi Jews Jewish Israeli politicians Jewish mayors Likud politicians Living people Mayors of Jerusalem Mayors of places in Israel People from Givatayim Railway executives