The asbestos that is crumbling in a number of houses on Saadia Street Paz Shaar Aliya

Hello Yona Yahav Mayor of Haifa,
We wanted to tell you that it is enough for one asbestos fiber to enter the respiratory system to cause fatal lung cancer. Now, we will share with you an appeal that reached the green center of 'Adam Teva and Din' and concerns thousands of residents who live in your city, Haifa.

21 buildings in the Shaar Aliya neighborhood in Haifa, 400 families, no less, live in houses that used to belong to the Ministry of Housing. The tenants bought the apartments from the state with their little savings and here today - it turns out that the buildings are covered with crumbling asbestos.

Let's go back and remember - it is enough for one asbestos fiber to penetrate the respiratory system to cause fatal lung cancer.

A reformed state would not allow the sale of property made of asbestos without guaranteeing its proper maintenance, a responsible mayor would order the removal of the asbestos immediately and protect the health of the residents.

But this is not the case that has reached us.

The residents who contacted us, mostly new immigrants who purchased public housing from the state, tell of a letter threatening fines and criminal proceedings that the Haifa municipality sent to them. In the letter, the Municipality of Haifa informs the residents that they have to remove the coating of the "hazard" where they live within 30 days. In the letter, the municipality expands and states that it acts by law, but forgets to mention a few small details - that the hazard is asbestos and that in order to remove asbestos, a permit is required from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and removing asbestos without this permit is a violation of the law.

When your people wrote the letter, they also must have forgotten that the financial capital needed to clear the hazard is not in the pockets of people who purchased their homes from public housing.

Mr. Yahav, 400 families, men, women and children are exposed to a serious health hazard every day. Even people who pass through the neighborhood, under the crumbling asbestos buildings, endanger their health. A week has passed and we have not yet received a substantive response to the request we sent to you.

Mr. Yona Yahav, you are responsible for these people - won't you see to the immediate removal of the asbestos?

Great Uncle Dumb

David Hagi, a resident of Shaar Aliya and a neighborhood activist, said:
"About half an hour ago, I finished an interview on the program "It will be alright" on IDF airwaves on the subject of asbestos in the buildings on Saadia Paz Street. I should note that the issue was brought up as extremely serious. I emailed them the presentation I made. The editors of the program saw the photos and even they were frightened by the hazard, among other things, said Adv. A lawyer named Amit LeShidor said in a serious manner that Haifa Municipality must remove the hazard and then litigate with the tenants according to his estimate the cost of removing the hazard is around half a million NIS. Letters were sent to the Haifa Municipality and all the chances that there will be litigation. With great hope of solving the problem..."

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