Breaking news:As of August 16, Israelis can return from just 10 countries without quarantine (however the list is only 3, because those three are the only ones that accept Israelies and 1.1 million ways to prevent a COVID lockdown in Israel - Eran Segal and Luxurious Banquet Hall, Erected Near Temple Mount, Unearthed in Jerusalem and What's My Line? - James Cagney; Gore Vidal [panel] (May 15, 1960) and Making of the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy and Tel Aviv: A City That Only the Mega-rich Call Home and Shalom Pollack: Israel - Ancient Roots - a modern miracle
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
I just returned from an 8 day journey to the Czech Republic to visit my wife's parents and for a vacation. Traveling by air plane out of Israel is not for the faint of heart or those who are not fully computer and smart phone literate. Pictures to come in the weeks ahead.
As of August 16, Israelis can return from just 10 countries without quarantine (however the list is only 3, because those three are the only ones that accept Israelies.
However, most of those destinations don't allow Israeli travelers to visit; Austria, Czech Republic, Moldova only places it's possible to go without needing to isolate upon return
As of August 16, Israelis will be able to return from only 10 countries without having to quarantine, with only three of those destinations accepting Israeli tourists, according to updated travel guidelines published by the Health Ministry late on Sunday.
The guidelines divided countries into three categories — yellow countries with low COVID rates, from which arrivals must only isolate for 24 hours or until receipt of a negative test result; orange countries with higher COVID rates, from which arrivals will be required to isolate for one week; and red countries to which travel is barred entirely, unless an individual receives special permission from the government's exemptions committee.
The list of yellow countries will be: Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Taiwan, Moldova, New Zealand, China, Singapore and the Czech Republic.
As of August 16, Israelis will be able to return from only 10 countries without having to quarantine, with only three of those destinations accepting Israeli tourists, according to updated travel guidelines published by the Health Ministry late on Sunday.
The guidelines divided countries into three categories — yellow countries with low COVID rates, from which arrivals must only isolate for 24 hours or until receipt of a negative test result; orange countries with higher COVID rates, from which arrivals will be required to isolate for one week, and red countries to which travel is barred entirely, unless an individual receives special permission from the government's exemptions committee.
The list of yellow countries will be Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Taiwan, Moldova, New Zealand, China, Singapore, and the Czech Republic.
However, only three of those countries — Austria, the Czech Republic and Moldova — currently allow Israeli tourists to enter, although some of the others may allow dual citizens to visit under certain circumstances with restrictive conditions.
The list of red countries will be Bulgaria, Brazil, Georgia, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey.
All other countries — including the UK and South Africa, which had been on the travel ban list — will now be designated as orange.
Travelers in the departures hall at Ben Gurion International Airport on August 05, 2021 (Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)
Israelis who are not vaccinated and have not recovered from the coronavirus will be required to quarantine no matter what when they return from any of those places.
The Knesset's Constitution Law and Justice Committee will convene on Monday to debate the new policy.
Until now, lawmakers and health officials were constantly updating the list of countries from which arrivals are required to quarantine, and the Health Ministry hopes the new policy will lead to less confusion on the matter.
Until August 16, though, the list updated last week will apply.
Then, the Knesset added a slew of new countries from which even vaccinated travelers must quarantine amid fears travelers could bring in new virus variants. Those new restrictions will go into effect on Wednesday.
The new travel rules were decided as Israel faces a surging virus outbreak despite a strong vaccination campaign. As of Sunday evening, there were 30,111 active COVID cases in Israel, with 597 hospitalized, 363 in serious condition and 50 on ventilators.
1.1 million ways to prevent a COVID lockdown in Israel - Eran Segal
Vaccination of eligible Israelis would stop the spread of the Delta variant. "Unfortunately, we failed to vaccinate this group," Segal wrote.
Israel is heading to a nationwide lockdown by September, some
health officials believe, but there are 1.1 million ways to prevent it,
according to Prof. Eran Segal, a computational biologist for the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot who has been advising the government throughout the pandemic. Israel's closure will be the result of the 1.1 million Israelis who can get vaccinated but have not yet, he wrote in a column on the N12 news site that published over the weekend."There is no real progress against this group," Segal wrote. "We all feel, and will continue to feel, the consequences."His column appeared the day before N12 released data provided by IDF Home Front Command's Alon headquarters that said the reproduction rate among unvaccinated individuals was 5.6, or 6.5 times higher than the 0.86 rate among vaccinated individuals.
The reproduction rate, commonly referred to as the "R," represents the number of people a sick person will infect. Throughout the crisis, morbidity has only successfully been brought under control by two actions: vaccination or lockdown. When the rate of vaccination stopped increasing because Israel failed to convince the unvaccinated to get the jab, "we were left with a situation that allowed for a widespread outbreak, especially in an encounter with a strong and contagious strain like the Delta variant," Segal said."The Green Pass was intended to get those people vaccinated, but in reality, this did not affect the unvaccinated group."When Israel saw the first outbreaks of the Delta variant, the recommendation was to concentrate most on getting those 1.1 million eligible Israelis inoculated – all people over the age of 12 – because "in our estimation, vaccination of a significant proportion of them would inhibit the current outbreak and halt its growth rate," Segal said. "But unfortunately, we failed to vaccinate this group."Outside of Israel, aggressive measures have been taken to convince people to vaccinate. For example, both Google and Facebook said they would not allow unvaccinated employees to come to the office. Google employs 135,000 people, and Facebook has 58,600.In the US, financial or other incentives are being offered in various states to get people to take advantage of the vaccine. Kanye West offered Pfizer vaccines to fans attending his "listening party" over the weekend.But in Israel, aside from the Green Pass rules, the government has taken little action, and people can continue to go to work, even in the healthcare field or in schools, without being vaccinated, Segal said.Now, closure is imminent."Because we were unable to stop the situation with vaccines, only the possibility of quarantine to curb morbidity remains," Segal wrote. "In order not to hurt the economy, the government did not want to impose a lockdown and [instead] decided on a series of restrictions: expanding isolation for those who return to Israel from abroad, asking parents of verified children to be isolated and more."No one thinks that these restrictions will stop the disease; at most, they will slow it down," he continued. "And because the government is not going to close at this stage, the actual meaning is that Israel is implementing a policy of 'mass contagion' without declaring it. The morbidity will continue to rise, and soon, hundreds of thousands of infected [people] (vaccinated or not) will accumulate."Most of the sick will recover, and then they will be "naturally vaccinated," but as the number grows, the country will pay a price in severe and dying patients, Segal said.It is possible that the large number of recovered people will curb morbidity before Israel reaches the point at which hospitals cannot manage the patient load and break down, "but there is no certainty about that," he said, adding that if not, a lockdown would likely be imposed."Without dramatic change, we will reach the hospitals' capacity threshold between the end of August and the third weekend of September," Segal wrote. "The models show that the number of infections in the coming month will be large, and when you take into account that 1% to 2% of them will be seriously ill, the workload in the hospitals will increase.""It is unfortunate that we have reached this point, since there is a high probability the containment of the disease could have been affected by vaccinating a considerable part of the 1.1 million who had not yet been vaccinated," he wrote."This has been and remains the national mission, where efforts should be invested, but we have been failing at this mission for seven weeks,"
Segal concluded. "The lockdown, if it happens, will be imposed mainly because this group has not been vaccinated."
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
Luxurious Banquet Hall, Erected Near Temple Mount, Unearthed in Jerusalem
Remains of the magnificent 2000-year-old building recently excavated and due to be opened to the public.
Ruth Schuster
New parts of what seems to have been a luxurious banqueting hall featuring a spectacular wall of fountains, erected west of the Temple Mount about 2,000 years ago, were unveiled to the public on Thursday.
The structure dates to the Second Temple period, but the question is, which part of that period, which touches on who built not only the edifice but the Temple Mount compound next door.
This monumental edifice was revealed in stages. In fact, part of it – the eastern hall later dubbed the "Freemasons Hall" and even later the "Herodian Hall" – had been discovered in 1867. Further exploration was pursued in 1966; then, after the Six-Day War, debris from centuries on the site was cleared, revealing some more.
Decades later, from 2007 to 2012, archaeologists frustrated by the contemporary realities hampering archaeological investigation of ancient Jerusalem started digging a tunnel along the length of the Western Wall and by Wilson's Arch, beneath present-day buildings. Much of the tunnel runs beneath the Old City's Muslim Quarter. The purpose: to investigate the subterranean parts of the Western Wall and its vicinity.
In the course of this tunneling project on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in 2007 the late Alexander Onn discovered the building's western hall. It was identical to the eastern hall.
Further exploration in the following years found the central portion of the building: a spectacular space going the full length of the building, with the two halls on either side – and featuring a water reservoir, in front of which was a 1.4-meter-thick (4.5-foot) inner wall through which water was fed by lead pipes, and spouted through Corinthian capitals into the room. The water drained through a channel cut into the paving stones, though its final destination is not known.
Remains of the magnificent 2000-year-old building recently excavated and due to be opened to the public.
Remains of the magnificent 2000-year-old building recently excavated and due to be opened to the public.Credit: Yaniv Berman / Israel Antiquities Authority
So what have we? A rectangular building 24.5 meters by 11 meters, built on a foundation of the famed Roman concrete. The two identical halls, eastern and western, were each 7 meters wide by 5.7 meters long, connected by that extraordinary hallway with the water tank and water-streaming wall. The entrances the archaeologists have found so far have been in grand style too.
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"This is, without a doubt, the most magnificent public building from the Second Temple period that has been uncovered to this day in Jerusalem outside the walls of the Temple Mount," said lead archaeologist Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The walls and fountain were decorated with a sculpted cornice bearing pilasters (flat supporting pillars) topped with Corinthian capitals. The decorative style of the building is typical of opulent Second Temple-period architecture, the IAA says.
What purpose was served by the mammoth building with its two identical halls and fancy fountainry is hard to know 2,000 years later. Since it lies about 25 meters west of the Temple Mount in the area of Wilson's Arch, the archaeologists surmise it had been on the main road to the temple compound, and may have served a function for dignitaries en route to the temple.
Despite the water-spouting wall, the archaeologists don't think this was a nymphaeum. Traces of wooden couches were found along the walls of the two side halls, leading the researchers to speculate that the building was an ancient banqueting hall – the ancient Greeks and, following them, the Romans would feast while reclining on wooden sofas, a practice that would continue as late as the fourth century. Dining semi-prone is mentioned as early as the Book of Amos, in the early eighth century B.C.E., in the context of the prophet chiding the people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel for their iniquities.
But the structure begs a question about the construction of the Temple Mount compound. In recent years, a theory has been gaining traction that King Herod may have begun the monumental Temple Mount project but didn't live to complete it.
Remains of the splendid fountains that operated in the magnificent 2000-year-old building
Remains of the splendid fountains that operated in the 2000-year-old building Credit: Yaniv Berman / IAA
Not King Herod
King Herod, the vassal king on Rome's behalf from 37 to 4 B.C.E., is credited with numerous examples of monumental construction around his kingdom, including reconstruction of the Temple itself; the port at Caesarea; the palace at Masada; a magnificent basilica in Ashkelon, and much more – and expansion of the Temple Mount compound.
One source of the belief that Herod built the Second Temple and expanded the compound is none other than Josephus, who says the king built on a project by King Solomon: Creating the platform on which the temple sat, by expanding the upper face of the mountain. "Solomon made all these things for the honor of God, with great variety and magnificence" (Antiquities 8:95).
The new wrinkle is that this "Herodian Hall" building had to have been built before the Western Wall and Wilson's Arch, which is perfectly integrated into the Western Wall, the archaeologists now say. It was recently realized that the "Herodian Hall" had apparently been erected a decade or two after Herod's death, Weksler-Bdolah tells Haaretz.
That supports the theory that Herod began the monumental expansion of the Temple Mount compound, but didn't live to finish it. The compound project seems to have been completed sometime between the years 30 and 70, when the Romans tore down the temple.
Stepped pool installed in one of the chambers in the late Second Temple period that served as a ritual bath.
Stepped pool installed in one of the chambers in the late Second Temple period, during the building's second phase, which served as a ritual bathCredit: Yaniv Berman / IAA
Stepped pool installed in one of the chambers in the late Second Temple period that served as a ritual bath
Stepped pool installed in one of the chambers in the late Second Temple period, the building's second phase. The pool served as a ritual bathCredit: Yaniv Berman / IAA
"Coins, pottery and oil lamps discovered in a Jewish ritual bath underneath the Western Wall recently, report archeologists from Israel, date the completion of the Western Wall surrounding the Second Temple to a later time, maybe even 50 C.E.," the Foreign Ministry itself admits – which would be decades after the vassal king had died.
"It has become indicated in recent years that the expansion of the Temple Mount took longer than had been realized and hadn't been completed in Herod's day," Weksler-Bdolah confirms to Haaretz.
But she adds that the building only served for a short period. A quake shook Jerusalem in about 33 C.E., damaging the building and causing the upper parts of Wilson's Arch to collapse. Later, apparently in about 59 C.E., construction in the vicinity of the building resumed but the building itself was restructured and its inner space was divided into three separate vaulted halls, with water reservoirs installed in the western and central halls, the archaeologists say.
Today, all that remains above ground of the Second Temple complex is the Western Wall, whose monumental first course has been revealed in the tunnel. That almost 70-meter stretch is part of the monumental four walls that the king had built around the temple courtyard. Originally, this retaining western wall had been almost half a kilometer long, archaeologists estimate. The rest of the compound was destroyed or covered up by later and modern construction – which is where the Western Wall tunnel entered our story.
Squeezing through the tunnel's rather narrow passages, one can glimpse segments of the original Herodian and Roman streets; part of the 2,200-year-old Hasmonean-era conduit that had once supplied water to the city (from a source not known to this day); and monumental foundations, including one stone block 13.6 meters long by 3 meters high and 3.5 meters wide, which is estimated to weigh 517 tons.
The tunnel and the newly exposed part of the building
The tunnel and the newly exposed part of the buildingCredit: Yaniv Berman / IAA
That is a hefty construction block and how it was moved is anybody's guess, as is who exactly finished building the Second Temple compound. But, says the Israel Antiquities Authority, visitors will soon be able to visit, ahead of the Selihot in Elul, and decide for themselves.
The new visitors' route in the Western Wall Tunnels
Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority
Shalom Pollack: Israel - Ancient Roots - modern miracle
What's My Line? - James Cagney; Gore Vidal [panel] (May 15, 1960)
MYSTERY GUEST: James Cagney
PANEL: Arlene Francis, Gore Vidal, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf
The film was written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph, and directed by Michael Curtiz. According to the special edition DVD, significant and uncredited improvements were made to the script by the twin brothers Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein.
In 1993, Yankee Doodle Dandy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and in 1998, the film was included on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies list, a compilation of the 100 greatest films in American cinema.
In the early days of World War II, Cohan comes out of retirement to star as President Roosevelt in the Rodgers and Hart musical I'd Rather Be Right. On the first night, he is summoned to meet the president at the White House, who presents him with a Congressional Gold Medal (though the Cohan character on screen incorrectly identifies the award as the Congressional Medal of Honor). Cohan is overcome and chats with Roosevelt, recalling his early days on the stage. The film flashes back to his supposed birth on July 4, whilst his father is performing on the vaudeville stage.
Cohan and his sister join the family act as soon as they can learn to dance, and soon The Four Cohans are performing successfully. But George gets too cocky as he grows up and is blacklisted by theatrical producers for being troublesome. He leaves the act and hawks his songs unsuccessfully around to producers. In partnership with Sam Harris, another struggling writer, he finally interests a producer and they are on the road to success. He also marries Mary, a young singer/dancer.
As his star ascends, he persuades his now struggling parents to join his act, eventually vesting some of his valuable theatrical properties in their name.
Cohan retires, but returns to the stage several times, culminating in the role of the U.S. president. As he leaves the White House, after receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from the president, he descends a set of stairs while performing a tap dance (which Cagney thought up before the scene was filmed and undertook without rehearsal). Outside, he joins a military parade, where the soldiers are singing "Over There", and, at first, he isn't singing. Not knowing that Cohan is the song's composer, one of them asks if he knows the words. Cohan's response is a smile before joining in to sing too.
Tel Aviv: A City That Only the Mega-rich Call Home
That is the future of the city according to new data that shows it's becoming unaffordable for those who don't inherit a home or earn triple the average salary, and some say the whole country will bear the cost
Tel Aviv resident Ran Binya is caught between two conflicting forces in the city he loves.
On the one hand, he's enjoying a golden age in the real estate business he founded 16 years ago. "It's been a long time since we've had such a crazy period for housing demand and deals like we have now," he says. "Properties are being snatched up – and I'm not talking only about new apartments straight from contractors but rather people looking for a bigger place who plunk down a huge amount of cash to buy second-hand apartments in the center of town. Just this week I sold a large three-room apartment in the center of town for 5 million shekels ($1.5 million), which was on the market for barely a week an a half. A similar apartment was sold in the same building three months ago for 4.5 million shekels."
On the other hand, Binya, a 46-year-old married father of two, can't afford to buy his own apartment in Tel Aviv despite the handsome commissions he gets. Instead, he rents an apartment near Kikar Hamedina. The neighborhood, which had been considered quiet and aging until recently, is now undergoing renewal with an enormous high-rise project in the middle of the huge traffic circle and a multitude of urban renewal projects in the surrounding streets. Prices are responding accordingly.
"I am part of the middle class, the kind of person who didn't work for a start-up that went public or earns 40,000 shekels a month. We have to be rescued. The price of moving into the city is climbing, and meanwhile I am the shoemaker who goes barefoot," he laughs. "Seriously, if things go on this way, the center of town will become homogenous and full of only people with money. My fear as a resident is that the options will keep shrinking, the magic will disappear and Tel Aviv will become a bubble for the rich, more so than it is today."
Tel Aviv municipality officials are following developments in the local housing market with concern. New research, conducted by Tel Aviv University researchers in partnership with the city's economic branch and the Institute for Local Government, found that the price of a typical four-room apartment in Tel Aviv rose 50 percent between 2011 and 2020, compared to 32 percent for a similar apartment in 11 other large Israeli cities. The average in Tel Aviv in 2020 was 3.078 million shekels, compared to 1.7 million shekels in other cities. The growing gap between "the state of Tel Aviv" and cities in the periphery creates high entry barriers into the big city and demonstrates how housing has been a driver of inequality in Israel.
"Owning a home in Tel Aviv is an option for the top decile in the best case, and to a small part of the top decile in the worst case," says Prof. Danny Ben-Shahar, director of the Alrov Institute for Real Estate research at Tel Aviv University's Coller School of Management, who conducted research with Dr. Sagit Azari-Viesel, a postdoc at UCLA and lecturer at TAU, and Dr. Ravit Hananel, the head of the Urban Renewal and Housing Policy Lab in the university's public policy department.
The research, presented at the fourth conference for municipal economy in June in Tel Aviv, indicates that 3-4 room apartments in Tel Aviv are out of the price range for most Israelis. Five-room apartments are available only to the top decile, and the only members of the top decile who can own a Tel Aviv apartment without inheriting it are the households earning on average at least 52,000 shekels a month – more than triple the median household income of 16,000 shekels.
State of the millionaires founded at Basel
Many Tel Aviv locations are expected to get an expensive facelift in the coming years. If the municipality doesn't take drastic steps, rising prices will only exacerbate the ongoing exodus of young people who can't afford to live in the city.
The demolished Magen David Adom first responders' building, which took up a significant portion of Basel Square, illustrates the process. Reminders of the functional spaces inside the building that was there for some 50 years still poke out from among the ruins, but the remnants of that era will give way to a new exclusive chapter in the coming months.
The developers, a partnership of the White City Builders company, the JTLV 2 Fund and Isrotel, which bought the land from the city, paid 250 million shekels ($77 million) for the property. The $600-million project will include a deluxe 130-room hotel and just 13 apartments, some of them penthouses, with a starting price of 26 million shekels ($8 million). The developers say the average apartment size will be about 300 square meters. Residents will be able to enjoy the hotel's facilities, from the spa and sauna to the gym and swimming pool.
"Buyers into the project are people who currently live in gigantic houses in Caesarea, Herzliya or [Tel Aviv's] Tsahala neighborhood who want to move into the city," says Amikam Berger, vice president of White City Builders. "Other clients include the new high-tech crowd – young people who made an exit and are interested in enjoying life in the center of town. Because the facility didn't need a new municipal building plan, the city didn't demand that some of the units be allocated for rent or affordable housing."
Dr. Ravit Hananel, the head of the Tel Aviv University's Urban Renewal and Housing Policy Lab in the university's public policy departmentCredit: Michal Kedron
Berger says that the high prices in the city center stem from the methodical limitation of building additions, which are restricted in part because of the UNESCO's White City declaration of Tel Aviv that limits building height, as well as from the conservation plan, the neighborhood urban renewal plan and the national development plan. Additionally, the city has fixed up the streets, including infrastructure replacement, and has been behind the Tel Aviv Global project, which have dramatically improved quality of life in the city and has sent demand soaring among those who can afford it.
Basel has been long one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city. Prices there are sky-high, at about 51,000 shekels per square meter for old apartments. Last August, a 60-year-old, three-room apartment measuring just 60 square meters sold for 3.1 million shekels. Similar deals from last year indicate similarly high prices. However, the mix of two-room and three-room apartments in the neighborhood allows young adults and families starting out to compromise on living space and stay in the area.
"The neighborhood is full of families with kids, who continue to live here despite the rising prices, and there are many family-oriented neighborhood activities," says Dror Perry, owner of the Open House real estate agency, which has operated in Basel around 12 years. "There are also relatively well-off people in their 30s looking for 90-square-meter or larger apartments for their families, who are prepared to pay even 5.5 million shekels for a fixer-upper with parking and an elevator. So even before the luxury project goes up you could say it's expensive here. This is not your average Israel. Just a 15-minute ride away – in Ramat Gan or Bat Yam – you can get the same place for considerably less."
Perry says he expects prices to keep rising, which will limit who can move in. "It's reasonable to surmise that mainly high-tech workers from companies going public on Wall Street for billions of dollars, many of whom have options, will be the ones who can afford to live here," he says. "We are also in touch with many people abroad interested in buying an apartment – Jews from Britain, some from France and Israelis who want to return from the United States. The situation is such that we are chasing after properties, not after clients because demand is outstripping supply. And City Hall? I don't see it making an effort to keep young people here with affordable housing like it's doing in other places, and there will be a price for that."
A similar process is happening in Kikar Hamedina, where a huge 1.4-billion-shekel ($430 million) project that drew competition among the industry's biggest firms is going up. After years of neglect and planning difficulties, three 40-floor towers with 450 units each are to be built inside the gigantic traffic circle. There will also be a 10-floor building for public uses. Over the past year, sales have increased as the project has progressed, and it's no surprise that the starting prices have been 60,000 shekels per square meter. While other luxury projects in recent years have seen prices of 100,000 shekels per square meter or more, the current phenomenon portends the spread of luxury towers to the central and northern neighborhoods, which traditionally housed young adults and families starting out.
So how much money do you need to live in Tel Aviv? According to the municipality's latest annual statistics, the average household in Tel Aviv spends 18,800 shekels per month – 114 percent more than the national average. Standard costs per person are 9,188 shekels – one-and-a-half times the national average.
1.5m shekels of equity
Still, the most worrisome statistic is the enormous housing outlays relative to household income. "The research revealed that Tel Aviv households spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing – rent or mortgage – compared to an average of 36 percent for the OECD. That means that a significant proportion of our residents don't have enough disposable income to cover health, education, welfare and culture," Hagit Naalay Yosef, the director of the municipality's strategic planning unit, says.
For example, the price gap between Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities for five-room apartments, which are inhabited mainly by families with children, is more than double. While the average mortgage for such an apartment in Tel Aviv is 17,800 shekels a month, the average in other cities is 8,108 shekels. The gap was found to have grown from a difference of 1,000 shekels for three-room or four-room apartments in 2000 to 4,000-5,000 shekels today.
Aviv Shapira, the municipality's youth unit manager, is worried about the future for young adults in the city that never sleeps. "Young people move to Tel Aviv these days at a relatively later age than in past, only after they have a full-time job to cover the heavy housing expenses in the city. If previously they moved here by the time they were 22 or 23, now it's 27, after their B.A. Our job is to keep them here with reasonable prices, not necessarily to buy an apartment."
Municipal planner Naalay Yosef concedes the demographic change could hurt the city. "The urban vision and the guidelines of the strategic plan and the development plan are that Tel Aviv is a city for all its residents, attractive to a heterogeneous population and promoting equal opportunity and a narrowing of gaps," she says. "We are busy planning and implementing activities reflecting this vision. A good city is pluralist and varied – and it's clear to us that the housing market is the key to this."
However, intentions are one thing and reality is another, at least for now. "A deal in Tel Aviv has a premium that the coronavirus didn't wipe out despite all the warnings [about a decrease in demand]," says Ran Binya, the real estate agent. "In other words, people are still prepared to pay a higher price for a three-room apartment in the heart of the city than in the Ramat Aviv neighborhoods or for larger apartments outside the city. I work strictly with clients who I verify in the first conversation have the wealth or financing to buy the apartment. That means in many cases equity of at least 1.5 million shekels. Competition for every apartment is great – there are sometimes 20 people waiting to see a place to buy. I advise clients to start the bank process well before buying a place so they'll be able to put money on the table at a time when the market is hungry and there is competition for every apartment."
The municipality's research also supports Binya's assertions, showing that 1.3 million shekels for a down payment is needed to buy a three-room apartment in Tel Aviv with a 20-year mortgage that wouldn't eat up more than 30 percent of the buyer's monthly income. For that sume, one could purchase an entire three-room apartment in Petah Tikva's Ein Ganim neighborhood.
Similarly, a four-room apartment in Tel Aviv requires a 1.9-million-shekel down payment, the equivalent of the purchase price of a cheaply built four-room apartment with a seaside view in Hadera. A five-room apartment in Tel Aviv requires a 3.5-million-shekel down payment, compared to an average of 630,000 shekels elsewhere in the country and 1.2 million shekels for four-room and five-room apartments, respectively, in 11 other large cities. The growth rate of the down payment needed to buy in Tel Aviv rose 68 percent between 2011 and 2020, compared to 13 percent elsewhere in Israel.
"The population here will become another type of population. It's a danger and enormous threat to the city," warns. Prof. Ben-Shahar.
The danger lurking in a homogenous, rich city lies not only in its image but rather in its content and growth engines emptying and the city becoming economically weaker. "Research shows that cities with a range of housing types, age and income are more economically successful," says Hananel. "Heterogeneity is important to a city. It is not a matter of bleeding-heart leftism and should also interest the so-called capitalist pig. A city needs blue collar workers, artists and intellectuals."
However, the city is pushing out those who are lacking means. According to municipal data, the household poverty rate in Tel Aviv is 8.5 percent, far below the national average of 18 percent.
"All of metropolitan Tel Aviv has become wealthier and whiter, and has greater access to opportunities and resources," says Hananel. "The gaps between it and the periphery are widening dramatically," she notes, adding that curbing this process "is a goal that should be important not only for the mayor of Tel Aviv but also for the government and the entire country.
"Research shows that in order to maintain a democratic society, residents need to be exposed to a diverse population, which teaches tolerance. Cities with extremes – a weak periphery and a rich center – create radicalized enmity between citizens and new types of ghettos."
It's not just about supply
One of the most common solutions for dealing with high housing prices and a lack of affordable housing in major cities is expanding the housing supply, as the city is planning in the Sde Dov neighborhood and in areas slated for urban renewal in the south and east of the city. The economic logic at the base of these proposals is that expanding the supply leads to lower prices.
A review conducted by the Madlan website at the request of TheMarker indicates a noticeable decline in the pace of building permits being issued for new construction and tear-down urban renewal projects between 2014 and 2020, compared to a rise in permits under National Construction Plan 38 (which enables renovating buildings in order to bring them up to earthquake code while adding more housing units) during the same period. The number of units added to the market during these years fluctuated between 2,260 and 3,700 homes per year.
However, the research surprisingly points out that in certain cases in the world, increasing the housing supply actually led to a rise in housing prices. This phenomenon is connected to the rise in demand in the wake of global urbanization trends and aging populations. In Tel Aviv, increasing supply also failed to do wonders, probably because it didn't keep up with rising demand.
Dr. Sagi Azari-Viesel believes the solution involves not only increasing supply but also intervening in the type of apartments being built in the city. Change is unlikely, he says, unless the municipality demands housing units be allocated for long-term rentals or affordable housing at a regulated rate. "In the United States, which isn't a welfare state, most of the states require a significant allocation of affordable housing in major cities − 20 percent of the units in a project. However, it doesn't happen in Israel, in which the state owns most of the lands," she says. "Despite all the government plans and municipal declarations, the number of projects in which the state actually managed to obligate developers to build affordable housing is negligible."
Hananel asserts that the Tel Aviv municipality also has shown weakness in the face of strong market forces. "Tens of thousands of housing units were built in the heart of Tel Aviv in recent years, without them insisting on a minimal number of affordable housing units," she says.
Despite the gloomy situation, Ben-Shahar believes it is still possible to change things. "We need to stop the train, but it will happen only if the government decides on clear, forceful regulation – and acts quickly."
Tel Aviv municipality officials understand the dangers and are trying to take independent action without the national government, but results have been limited. The city used the year lost to coronavirus to formulate an urban housing policy with an emphasis on diversity and different communities, including elderly people of lower socioeconomic standing. The plan is supposed to be released in the coming weeks. The goal is to enable middle class families and young people to live in city centers, especially against the backdrop of increasing housing prices.
Only 264 affordable units
Currently, there are 264 affordable units that are occupied in a range of projects in the city – Ganei Shapira, Yad Eliyahu, Michaelangelo in Jaffa, Midtown Project, Yesod Hamaaleh, the Sitoni Market, the Aliyah Market and Project WE. In parallel, there are about 5,000 affordable apartments in various stages of planning across the city.
"The data shows the great crisis of access to housing in the city and the existing limitations in the rental market," says Hagit Naalya Yosef of the municipality. Most of the proposals are focused on this crisis, and the policy paper will propose the tools to manage it, she adds. "We are tackling the issue with a wide range of tools, including mandating affordable housing in projects and encouraging long-term rental ventures."
What other cities do
"The development plan will be adjusted accordingly and will mandate many projects," adds Naalya Yosef.
"All major cities, like London, Hong Kong and New York do it, and that's how it happens and will continue to be in Tel Aviv. It is necessary. We are ramping up our familiarity with the institutional market to move as much as possible toward removing obstacles and making the market, regulation and national policy more sophisticated. We are constantly learning about the variety of needs of the city's different populations," she says.
"The problem is that the state is still not on board with taking significant action on housing, and it prefers focusing on increasing the supply of land and maximizing revenue from it, and less so on the type of housing. If there is no change, the problem will only get worse. It's not strictly a problem for Tel Aviv."
