Beverly Hills is looking for a “sister city” in Israel, its mayor said.
Jimmy Delshad, an Iranian-born Jew who took over as mayor of the plush Los Angeles sub-district in March, said in an interview he is seeking a goodwill alliance with a city in Israel.
“I’m looking for a twin city for Beverly Hills in Israel,” Delshad, 66, told the weekend Yediot Acharonot, adding that he was considering Ariel and Ashkelon as candidates.
Delshad emigrated to the United States in 1959, but he also spent a year on a kibbutz and is married to an Israeli native.
While the mayor, half of whose constituents are Jewish, has come out strongly against the virulently anti-Israel rhetoric of the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he disagrees with the way Tehran is shunned by Washington.
“I think we should always talk to one another, enemies or non-enemies, because if we ignore each other that just aggravates the situation,” Delshad said, according to the Israeli newspaper. “The time has come for America and Israel to begin talking to Ahmadinejad. If we talk to him, the hostility will diminish.”
