Beit Hanina Residents Gain Access to New $20 Million Sports Hub
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Sports Center includes East Jerusalem's first public swimming pool and aims to reduce infrastructure gaps in the eastern sector.
By Tomas Rahman ·
Jerusalem residents in the northern district of Beit Hanina can now swim in a public pool for the first time. The facility opened last week as part of a new community sports complex.
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Sports Center occupies a 5,000-square-meter site. Construction cost approximately $20 million. The venue features gyms, fitness studios, and communal spaces designed for local recreation.
Mayor Moshe Lion attended the launch ceremony to mark the opening. He stated that the project aims to narrow the gap between the city's eastern and western neighborhoods. Lion described the opening as real news for thousands of children, teenagers, and families in the area.
Activists have long noted that infrastructure in East Jerusalem, a district with a mostly Arab population, has lagged behind Jewish parts of the city. The municipality framed this inauguration as part of a wider push to expand public infrastructure in the eastern sector. Recent projects in this initiative include a new educational campus in Shuafat serving students from preschool through high school.
Other developments include the 30-dunam Kidron Valley Park in Sheikh Jarrah, which features sports courts and fitness facilities. A large welfare center in Wadi al-Joz is also part of these recent expansions.
Before this opening, Jerusalem had about a dozen public pools in Jewish and mixed neighborhoods. Access to these facilities is often expensive, and pools are frequently overcrowded due to a low pool-to-resident ratio. In Haredi-majority neighborhoods, pools typically operate with separate swimming hours for different genders.
The Beit Hanina project was initiated by the municipality in partnership with the Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition Ministry, the Israel Lottery, and the Jerusalem Foundation. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and additional donors also supported the project. Local representatives participated in the planning stages. The municipality expects the facility to create dozens of new local jobs for the neighborhood. Wassim al-Hajj, director of the Beit Hanina community administration, said the opening addresses a real need among residents that had not been met in the area until now.
