Moshe Lion

Lion, the first mayor of Jerusalem of Sephardi descent, was elected on 13 November 2018, and took office on 4 December.

On 25 March 2018, Lion announced his intention to run for Mayor of Jerusalem in the elections scheduled for 30 October 2018. 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.

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.

In July 2014, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak.

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 incumbent mayor 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 2008, he was appointed chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority. Under his tenure, the First Station train complex in Jerusalem was completed.

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 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.

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.

Moshe Lion was born in the Florentin neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel, and attended Zeitlin High School [he] . His father's family comes from Thessaloniki, while his mother has roots in Aden. 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 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.

Moshe Lion, or Moshe Leon (Hebrew: משה ליאון , 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.