In January 2023, something happened in Bat Yam, the mayor decided that there is no place for the presence of homeless people in the public space.
As part of the emergency plan, it was decided that the municipality will dismantle wooden platforms and fine those who lie on benches.
In the petition of the Association for Civil Rights it is claimed that the policy of which the mayor of Bat-Yam is proud is contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Court and seriously harms the human rights of the most vulnerable people in society.
"Treating a person who finds himself in distress and lives on the street as if he is waste to be disposed of is an invalid measure"
Attached to the petition is a video from the municipality's Facebook page under the title "No Street Streets in Bat Yam", in which the mayor is seen on one of the city's main streets, instructing municipal employees to remove benches, install partitions in others, all to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them.
After that, the mayor is seen addressing a man lying on one of the benches.
The mayor punched in the name of that person, while it was photographed and his face was visible, and told him that he could not continue to lie there, because "we do not impress a public place [...]".
The mayor of Bat Yam - "Dari Rehok - not in Bat Yam" (photo: official website, photo: Dovrot Bat Yam)
An investigation conducted by the Association for Civil Rights shows that there are several dozen homeless people living in the public space in the city of Bat Yam, and several of them are homeless women.
Most of them are not at all known to the welfare authorities in the city, and that for months the respondent has started implementing a policy that includes the deportation of the homeless, especially from central places in the city, and the confiscation of their property, including objects they need for their survival, such as food, blankets and mattresses.
In the petition, attorney Meschit Bandel, who submitted the petition, states that the conduct of the Bat Yam Municipality is contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Court which stated that a policy of expelling homeless people from the public space or confiscating their equipment causes serious and disproportionate harm to a series of basic constitutional rights and is therefore illegal.
"The phenomenon of the homeless living in the public space cannot be solved by populist decisions by politicians, nor can it be made to disappear by moving them from one space to another or abusing them. A comprehensive policy of support and housing is required, which involves the allocation of resources and a prevention policy," the petition states.
According to Attorney Bendel, people who are unfortunate enough to be homeless - in Bat Yam, Tel Aviv and anywhere in the country - are human beings, they have the basic constitutional rights to human dignity, property, freedom of movement and due process. Treatment of a person who finds himself in distress and lives In the street as if it were waste to be disposed of is illegal. The Supreme Court and the legal advice to the government have already ruled in a similar matter, that the policy of expelling the homeless from the public space is prohibited except in limited and rare cases.
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