The Mayor of Ramat Gan convened his city council on Wednesday to propose that one of the city’s light rail stations be renamed for US President Joe Biden, in recognition of Biden’s support for Israel during the ongoing war with Hamas. The city does not have the authority to make that change but can request that the Ministry of Transportation make the change on its behalf. The proposal to make that request passed by a vote of 12 to 6.
“As of Saturday, October 7, the State of Israel is a different country,” the mayor, Carmel Shama HaCohen, said. “Amidst all the chaos and darkness, we all witnessed a powerful beam of light, in the form of the President of the United States. President Biden’s statements come from the heart,” HaCohen added, “as if he were an Israeli or a Jew.”
Members of the opposition said it was too early to make such a gesture and that commemorations should wait until the war has come to an end.
There was also some concern that this honor might overshadow the attention given to victims of Hamas’ attack, to hostages currently held captive, or to fallen soldiers and their families. The mayor insisted that recognizing those people was still the priority and that honoring President Biden would not detract from recognizing fallen Israelis.
One voice of dissent was Deputy Mayor Roi Barzilai, who blamed President Biden for the Israeli government’s failure to pass its controversial judicial reform. At this objection, another right-wing member of the city council, who supported the reform, said this was not the time to discuss that issue.
“We want to support calling the station after Biden,” he said, “who is standing by Israel’s side in its difficult hour.”
The light rail system is no stranger to controversy
Ramat Gan hosts two light rail stations: the Bialik station, at the intersection of Jabotinsky and Bialik streets, and the Stock Exchange station on Abba Hillel Street, which will now be renamed. They are part of the larger Tel Aviv Red Line, which opened in August.
Tel Aviv’s light rail system was a source of controversy before the breakout of the war, with secular and religious politicians dueling over whether the trains should operate on Shabbat.
There has also been controversy over who should be allowed to construct the system: tenders have been granted to Chinese state-affiliated construction companies, including the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, which received about $500m for work on the Red Line.
Both the Biden administration and the Trump administration before them have warned Israel that Chinese investment could lead to security breaches. The Biden administration even banned one such group, the China Railway Construction Company, from receiving any US investment, citing suspicion of ties to the Chinese defense industry.
Moshe Cohen/MAARIV contributed to this report.