Zoë Garbett has much to learn from Haifa’s first Jewish mayor
Shabtai Levy, nicknamed Abuna – ‘our father’ in Arabic – for his commitment to coexistence, understood that even during a bitter war his responsibility was to all the city’s residents. It is a model of…
Assessment
The piece draws a direct line from a mid-20th century mayor of Haifa to contemporary politics in Hackney, implying that Zoë Garbett's approach to intercommunal tensions could benefit from studying Levy's example. The comparison suggests that Hackney's current challenges around cohesion are not unprecedented, and that historical models of inclusive civic duty remain relevant. The key question is whether Garbett or her critics will engage with this parallel as a practical framework.