building-by-Tal-DahanIhab and Kati Muzelbat tried to purchase an apartment in two residential projects in Ma’alot Tarshiha, and were ignored and given excuses for why they could not purchase an apartment. A Jewish researcher from Channel 10 sold apartments on that same day, and in the same place and was obligated not to sell to Arabs. ACRI petitioned today against the Israel Lands Authority, demanding the imposition of a 1 million shekel fine against the entrepreneurs who discriminated against the couple.
Following the discrimination, ACRI petitioned the Administrative Court in Jerusalem. The discrimination was revealed in an investigation conducted by Channel 10. The company “Galil Megurim” has repeatedly rejected the couple’s claims, and yet the Jewish researcher received a prompt and courteous response when she expressed an interest in purchasing an apartment in the same project. A worker even stated directly that there are no Arabs in the project, and said in a conversation that was recorded without her knowledge: “We have no cousins. I am not allowed to tell you that. It is forbidden to talk about it but we do not sell to Arabs. We do not sell to them, so if they are interested we are just very, very busy and we do not have time to meet with them.”
ACRI claims that the Israel Lands Authority unlawfully sanctioned the discrimination. The tender expressly stated that there must be no discrimination in marketing the apartments, and that violation of this condition would result in the cancellation of the tender or a fine equal to 15 percent of the value of the award – which amounts to approximately 1 million shekels in this case.
“Galil Megurim” sells two projects in Ma’alot Tarshiha called “Ma’a lot Hayeruka” and “Yarok Bagiva”, which competed for public lands for the construction of public projects. The company fired the worker that was recorded and claimed that she spoke her own personal opinion only. However the worker’s remarks were consistent with the way that the couple was treated for several months, when various excuses were given to prevent them from purchasing one of the project’s apartments. Even the Israel Lands Authority was in support of the dismissals; as permitting the company to defer responsibility to the worker enabled the Authority to avoid imposing sanctions – even though they were aware of the discrimination.
“The Israel Lands Authority struggled to find a way not to impose sanctions despite the unequivocal evidence that was revealed. This is a serious case of latent discrimination, which is generally difficult to detect. When we say to someone that there are no more apartments, they have no way of knowing if this is true or if they are being discriminated against because of their race, skin color, religion, nationality etc. Therefore, there are few complaints about this issue.
Now, when such latent discrimination has been exposed its full severity should be addressed and the sanctions set out in the tender should be imposed. The Israel Lands Authority should send a clear message that this phenomenon is unacceptable”, said Attorney Gil Gan-Mor, Director of the Social and Economic Rights Unit at ACRI.
Please click here to read the petition (in Hebrew).
