before the smoking ban here there was all kinds of hysteria that it end our nightlife and all the smokers would pack up and move to europe or something. nothing of the sort ever happened, but what did happen is countless people have quit smoking, myself included, and are now leading much healthier lives. i would have never had the strength to quit had i continued to be surrounded by cigarettes everywhere i went. just my two cents.

Does Ynet not know that Israel doesn't have a constitution? Being a normal country doesn't mean using another countries rhetoric.

same area with smokers would not be so toxic if the cigarette manufacturers would take out the toxic additives that prolong the shelf life of cigarettes. My parents were lifelong chain cigarette smokers who smoked only filtered cigarettes with a plastic filter tip to filter out the additives from the tobacco. Neither one every got lung cancer and both lived to 84. My great grandfather Bailey Winn smoked far stronger cigars he rolled himself from tobacco he grew at his estate called Rose Hill in Tennessee. It was fresh tobacco with no additives. The cigars were so strong, my father could not smoke them even though he smoked cigarettes from the age of 14. Bailey never got lung cancer and lived to his nineties. What does all this mean? Put air filters in places where people smoke to protect people from second hand smoke and encourage the use of filtered cigarettes with plastic filters until the tobacco companies can be persuaded to take out many of the carcinogenic additives. Sherman cigarettes have a limited shelf life and have fewer additives than other cigarettes, so are more expensive.

As a smoker, why must I have to stand outside in the rain to enjoy an evening at my favorite pub. You non-smokers are persecuting and hounding us down like dogs. I'm all for a "smokers only" pub. GREAT IDEA !!!! then I won't smoke on your turf, and you won't stop me smoking on my turf. AGREED? TO BAN US IS THE WRONG WAY TO GO ABOUT IT.

What about the rights of the workers who are exposed to passive smoke whether they like it or not? Surely their right to life without lung cancer takes precedence over the rights to have a few puffs. Israel really needs to get into the modern era and enforce a ban on smoking in public places! How much money does Israel spend each year on treating victims of chronic lung disease? What about the rights of the public not to have their taxes wasted on avoidable healthcare issues that are caused by a selfish minority. I bet more people have been killed in Israel since its founding by passive smoking than by Arabs- but where's the outcry?

To the author...since when does Israel have a constitution??? Are you writing this from America?

venues.... But who gave the smoker the right to pollute? No doubt, even most smokers do accept "smoking is a dirty habit".

A smoking ban is in order. After being inside a venue for a while, one comes back outside smelling like cigarette. It smells disgusting, Also, it is nice that once I get back from a night out, to not have to go once again and shower because I smell like nicotine. I'm quite sleepy at that time, and the eyes get heavy.

how about stop wasting our time with nonsense legal battles against human rights and put the energy towards making a constitution before claiming that it is being broken????

Since when is the use of a proven carginogenic a human right? of any kind? The courts have too much on their plates to worry over this idiocy.

Anti-smokers are pathetics. Only smokers pubs is a great (and not so new) idea. There was clubs for men where it was possible to smoke a good cigar and have a good cognac. That's a way of life we cannot give up !!!

But being an idiot doesn't harm other people. Smoking hurts everyone around you. Thank G-d that Israel is finally catching up with the rest of the world on this one. We'll hear all the same insipid arguments like this one about smoker's rights and how it will harm business, etc, ad nauseum. They will all be proven wrong, as they have in country after country. I got yer smoker's rights right here!

Then you will also have to park your car. More lung killing carcinogens roll out of your muffler than out of all of smokers cigarets. Would you rather be locked in a garage full of smokers or one car.

of all the places the smokers have been banned from smoking.. it is getting ridiculous to expect bars and clubs to be next on the list. i mean what does one do in a bar but stand around and smoke and drink anyways? as far as all you "i dont want to breathe in smoke" people... guess what ... dont go to bars.... they are specifically for smoking. its like going to the beach and wanting to be all covered up and shaded from the sun.... hello... dont go to the beach! idiots!

There are no such thing for smokers period. They do not have 'right' to smoke. Nor do they have a 'right' to inflict that smoke on anybody else period.

Cars aren't meant to be run indoors. Mind you, if you look at the science, cigarettes shouldn't be either.

just so you know, you won't die of cancer if you get locked in a garage with a running car. you will die of carbon monoxide poisoning. so your scare tactic is irrelevant. that being said, we should be doing a better job at reducing emissions from cars too. an outright ban on cars would be great, but unreasonable, seeing as they are a USEFUL means of transportation. smoking, on the other hand... oh yeah, and having lived through a smoking ban myself... business will survive and thrive. people will get used to it. and israel will be a better place because of it.

It's about time Israel came out of the 19th century and joins the rest of the informed world on this issue. Smokers have no right to kill the rest of us.

True, but in becoming normal , they threw out a 5000 year old culture for a third rate copy of American trailer trash. Ever notice that Britney Spears is plastered all over YNET but never in american federation rags?

The money saved by not paying for health care costs and social services because of smokers premature death far exceeds the cost incured for health care . This is why some nations-china, france have not jumped on the anti-smoking bandwagon.

I will not be surprised if thousands of smokers and the advokates of their violated 'civil rights' will take to the streets to demonstrate against the ban on smoking, many more, no doubt, than would be willing to demonstrate against the coming surrender at Annapolis.

then we should be able to go up to em and pop the smokers in the jaw!

You can not have sepparate places for smokers and non smokers or else every club will decide to accept smokers and the situation will be the same as before. I believe it's great to finally go out without having to stink afterwards and as much as smokers complain I believe it's a big help for people who want to quit..

This law is the wisest, most democratic law to have ever hit the streets of Israel! If democracy means you can't force people to inhale things they do not wish to, then this law is just! What about the other 4,750,000 people who do NOT smoke?! How the heck can the minority of tar inhalers dare to force it down our throats?! I DO NOT WANT TO SMOKE! This law represents me and all the other 4,749,999 people living in this DEMOCRATIC country! Oh, and another thing: Smoking is proved to be addictive, so tar inhalers don't wish to do it as well, they are cunningly forced to! So this law is all the more democratic!

Should bartenders, hostess, and waitresses endure the toxic enviorment of over 1000 cancer causing agents in each of the thousands of lit ciggarettes in hus/her face on just one days work. I know cancer is an integral part of society- but I just didn't know there were attorneys who were rolling out it's welcome mat.

In a free market capitalist economy like the US or Israel, a business owner has the LEGAL right to conduct business and target the customer of his choice, Haredim, secular, smokers, non-smokers, etc... If a restaurantwants to target smokers they should be able to.

Only Israelis could have the gall to come up with a load of crap as this. If they want to pollute themselves to death let them do it some place else.They have no respect for the law anyway.

And when you have finished paying us then come to tell us about your rights. People like you should smoke something else.

I also demand the right to eat at any and every restaurant in the country. However many of them serve non-kosher food. So I am forced to seek out one tha fits my lifestyle. Why should non-smokers have more rights than I do. It is interesting to note that 50% of Israeli factories pollute the air more than permitted by law. Yet all cancers and pulminary deseases are attributed to smoking. Somehow the smokers in Haifa are more damaging to health than the smokers in Jerusalem. danny

It's a brilliant thing. Anyone who thinks that it's perfectly fine for them to give other people cancer is a total scum bag... end of argument. Actually going out of your way to ruin the lives of people just to pose... definition of scum. As far as ruining business goes... that argument has been proven wrong in every state/country that a smoking ban has been introduced. Get over it. #14 RE: Bars are for smoking. No they're not... they're for drinking. As for this idiotic argument that it's discriminatory against smokers to stop them from smoking just because they want to and to hell with how it affects the innocent around them.... OK, lets extend the argument... perhaps we should also decriminalise rape because rapists want to rape and to hell with how it affects the innocent around them... let's decriminalise murder because murderers want to murder and to hell with how it affects the innocent around them... d'you see the point? Smoking has a harmful, negative affect on people who choose not to do it when some ignorant, selfish scum bag decides to do it.. and to hell with the people around him. It also costs our health services millions each year. The smoking ban is brilliant.