Real estate agents refuse to rent to refugees

Following in rabbis' footsteps, realty agencies in southern Tel Aviv initiate petition against renting apartments to African infiltrators, call them 'cancer'

Yoav Zitun|Published: 08.01.10 , 15:54

About a month after the Ynet report on the petition signed by rabbis from south Tel Aviv calling on their followers not to rent to African refugees, real estate agents recently joined their efforts. Ynet learned that about 10 real estate agents and real estate agency owners in Tel Aviv signed a petition titled "We will not rent apartments to infiltrators."

The petition wrote, "Following the massive entry of infiltrators into the neighborhoods and the rabbis' call not to rent apartments to illegal foreign workers, we hereby declare that we will not rent apartments to infiltrators in the neighborhoods of Kiryat Shalom and Tel Kabir in order to stem the spread of this phenomenon."

It was noted in the petition that a website will be launched to display the apartments available for rent to legal citizens only.

Alon Yisraelov, a veteran Tel Aviv real estate agent and owner of Alon Real Estate, explained what led him to sign the petition.

"I have been in the field for 25 years, and it is unbelievable what is happening here. We don't want what is happening in the Shapira neighborhood to spread to Kiryat Shalom and Tel-Kabir. This phenomenon is like a spreading cancer. Every month more and more infiltrators come in because people open the door for them. I am ready to take a hit to my livelihood in order to be considerate of the many residents who have contacted us asking us not to rent apartments to illegal workers. Elderly people are afraid of leaving their houses," Yisraelov explained.

Yisraelov noted that the petition refers only to illegal aliens, and not to legal workers.

"The moment the contract runs out for the infiltrators we are renting apartments to, we will not renew them. We decided to obey the rabbis and put an end to this," he explained.

Niyazov Kingston, a real estate agency owner in Kiryat Shalom who signed the petition, said, "It has nothing to do with the color of their skin because we provide service to the legal foreign workers as well. This only refers to people who are illegal."

Binyamin Babayof, a Tel Aviv municipal councilman from Shas, claimed that the petition is not racist. "I am glad that real estate agents also understood that this is a serious problem and hardship that harms the population in the south. Even though this may affect their pockets, they were mobilized.

"There is no issue of race here. This is a real problem that weighs heavily on the residents day and night. If the regime does not intend to solve it, the initiative will come from the citizens," said Babayof.