Safed landlord kicks out Druze students
Druze students ordered to vacate apartment after haredi neighbors threaten landlord
Almost a year after rabbis' letter, racism strikes in Safed once again: Less than a day after four students from the Druze town of Buq'ata in the Golan Heights rented out an apartment in Safed, their landlord ordered them to pack their belongings and vacate the home.
The landlord told them he received threats from ultra-Orthodox neighbors demanding he "not rent out the apartment to Arabs."
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The four tenants signed the lease agreement about a week ago, ahead of the new school year. They moved in Sunday morning before beginning their first day at university.
During class one tenant received a phone call from the landlord.
"He asked that we not return to the apartment at this time because the haredi neighbors were waiting for us. He told us to come back and clear out the flat until it'll all blow over," said one of the students, Amal Zahui.
The landlord did not deny the students' claims and issued the following statement: "It's not relevant why it happened. I just don't want to rent out apartments, neither to Arabs nor to Jews."
Zahui stressed that prior to signing the contract he did not notice any sign of objection from the landlord.
"We didn't expect that on the first day of our academic school year we'd be met with such racism. Now we have nowhere to go and I don't know where we're going to sleep tonight," he said.
One of Zahui's roommates, Jalal Amasha, said the students have no intention of filing a complaint with the police, explaining they do not wish to "make a big deal out of this."
"The landlord apologized and we're going out to look for a different apartment," Amasha said.
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