Dov Zur

Dov Zur
11th mayor of Rishon Letzion
In office 2008–2018
Preceded by	Meir Nitzan
Succeeded by	Raz Kinstlich
Personal details
Born	(1955-10-17) 17 October 1955 (age 69) Rishon LeZion, Israel
Political party	Only Rishon
Alma mater	Tel Aviv University

Dov Zur (Hebrew: דב צור; born 1956) is an Israeli politician and the former mayor of Rishon LeZion.

Biography and personal life

Zur was born in Rishon LeZion on October 17, 1955, to a Syrian mother and Hungarian father.^[1]

Zur is a divorcee and father of three children. His partner is Ariela Israeli, who served as head of the Education Administration of Rishon LeZion

Political career

Zur first ran for the Rishon LeZion City Council in 1993, and was elected. He served as Deputy Mayor under Meir Nitzan, but Resigned to serve in the Opposition. In 1998, he ran for Mayor of Rishon LeZion under his own party, "Quality Rishon" (Rishon Shel Echut), He lost to Nitzan, and continued to serve in the opposition. He ran again in 2003 under the Shinui Party, winning 37.55% of the Vote.^[2]

Zur was elected on November 11, 2008, beating Meir Nizan, who had served as mayor of Rishon Lezion for 25 years. Zur received 52.75% of the vote.^[3] He won Re-election in 2013 with 70.7% of the vote, and announced he would seek re-election in 2018. He ran against former Deputy Mayor, Raz Kinstlich, winning 31.89% of the vote in the First Round to Kinslitch's 21.77%. In the Second Round, Zur was defeated with 47.37% of the vote against Kinslitch's 52.63%.^[4] He announced his retirement from the City Council subsequent to his loss^[5]

As Mayor of Rishon LeZion

After becoming mayor of Rishon LeZion, Zur made efforts to cancel construction permits granted by his predecessor, for environmental considerations. He abolished Middle school, extending the length of high school education to 6 years. Zur promoted the construction of the Brown Line of the Tel Aviv Light Rail, and offered to have Municipal authorities help fund the project.^[6]

As part of a real-estate corruption investigation, on December 3, 2017, Tzur was detained for 8 days, on suspicion of accepting bribes, conspiracy to commit a crime, fraud and breach of trust.^[7] He was then released into a 10-day house arrest, and prohibited from returning to his duties as Mayor for another 25 days. At the end of January 2018 he resumed his duties under restrictions, and was banned from attending or attending meetings of the Planning and Building Committee, the Tenders Committee, and the city’s Economic Society. In March 2019, the police stated that sufficient evidence had been found to substantiate suspicions that he had committed a bribery offense.^[8]

References

1. "The mayor of Rishon LeZion and Reno Tzur will light beacons". Ynet (in Hebrew). 7 March 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-03-10.
2. "Results of the 2003 Municipal Elections by Constituency". הארץ (in Hebrew).
3. Damari, Ronen (12 November 2008). "Rishon LeZion: The Mythological Meir Nitzan is Going Home" (in Hebrew). Mynet. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
4. "Municipal Election Results". Ministry of the Interior (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2018-11-19.
5. "רשמית: דב צור מודיע על פרישה". mynetrishon (in Hebrew). 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
6. ברקת, עמירם (18 February 2014). "Rishon LeZion is willing to help fund the Brown Line". Globes (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2018-05-07.
7. "הותר לפרסום: ראש עיריית ראשל"צ דב צור חשוד בפרשת השחיתות - וואלה! חדשות". וואלה!News (in Hebrew). 2017-12-03. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
8. "הסתיימה חקירת תיק 1803". GOV.IL (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2021-01-26.