Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King, chairman of the United Jerusalem faction, successfully had public signs painted by the Jerusalem Municipality changed from being Arabic-only to being in Hebrew, in accordance with the law.
"Within 24 hours since I contacted the Municipality and you joined me, those of you following my Facebook page, and contacted the Municipality in your masses, the mistake was corrected, and Hebrew text replaced the Arabic text," reported King on his Facebook page Tuesday.
"Welcome to Damascus" wrote King just the day before, when he revealed the signs on his Facebook page, noting that the absence of Hebrew, the official language of Israel, in the public signs was in violation of the law.
The signs were painted on the sidewalk of IDF Square on central Yafo Street, seconds from the municipality building in one direction and the Old City's Yafo Gate in the other.
The Jerusalem Municipality responded to a query on its Facebook page Monday regarding the controversial signs, writing that they were part of a campaign for road safety in which 103 crosswalks were painted in the city. The Municipality argued for the Arabic given that the campaign was meant for all populations.
However, the Municipality response did not address the fact that the sign appeared solely in Arabic and not in Hebrew as well, against the laws requiring the official language of Israel to be posted in all official signs. Apparently King was able to make the Municipality conform to the law.
