Attacked a waitress when she asked him to stop smoking/security camera
"After the plaintiff warned the defendant that his cigarette smoke was entering her home and poisoning the occupants, he picked up a phone, went out to the stairwell of the shared building and shouted loudly: 'Not only is she stealing the tenants' newspapers, now she has also started stealing pots from the common garden of the building Friends, we have a kleptomaniac in the building, be careful!'"
This quote is taken from a lawsuit that will be filed in the coming days against that neighbor for defaming his neighbor in front of dozens of residents of a building in Tiberias.
She is not a kleptomaniac and it was her crime to point out to her neighbor, once again, the stench of cigarettes emanating from his apartment and entering her living space.
The issue of the fight between neighbors due to cigarette smoking is not new, but the new studies published in recent years regarding the damages caused by passive smoking, alongside the growing public 'outrage' against smokers, have led to an overall worsening of the fight between the parties, especially in regards to neighborly relations.
"No one has an interest in pouring contact adhesive on my car, I have no enemies and I have no quarrels, except for the neighbor who smokes, which I constantly warn," says D., who lives in the Yaffe Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem.
About a week ago she found out that her car was vandalized.
"I explained to him in nice words that I have a six-month-old baby and I have to ventilate her room. The smoke from his cigarettes enters the room, but it doesn't stop. I contacted a lawyer who explained to me that I would have to invest tens of thousands of shekels to sue him, and even then, I'm not sure The court will accept the claim. There were cases where it accepted and there were cases when it rejected it."
According to her, "shouting started between us, I told him that I would make his life hell if he continued to poison my daughter, but nothing helped."
How do you make it stop?/ShutterStock
On Shimoni Street in Jerusalem there is a residential building where fights are taking place: "On the second floor lives a woman and her new partner who smokes. A day after he first arrived - a world war broke out with the neighbor from above," says a resident of the building, "shouting, swearing, mutual threats. There is no We are quiet."
Also the various attempts of passive smokers to narrow the limits of the legality of smoking in buildings, make this potato hotter than ever.
On the one hand - the 'smokers', who claim that this is a blatant interference with their autonomy, and on the other hand - the 'neighbors', who claim that even though the apartment is property, their right to life increases and that the freedom to smoke does not exist in a vacuum.
In the legal battle between the two, as of today, the smokers still have the upper hand.
A few days ago, the District Court in Tel Aviv rejected an administrative petition filed by three residents of Ramat Gan, in which it was claimed that they are suffering severely from the smoke entering their apartments, due, among other things, to medical problems from which they suffer, such as asthma, recovery from cancer and sensitivity of the nasal membranes.
The petitioners against the Ramat Gan municipality were based on a by-law that states that the mayor, the inspector or the sanitation worker may demand that the owner of a property or its owner remove a hazard from the property, insofar as it harms the quality of the environment.
On the other hand, the municipality replied that in the absence of legislation that prohibits smoking in a private residential apartment - no enforcement is carried out, especially since the petitioners did not lift the burden of proof that they were harmed.
In addition, it is argued that smoking for personal needs in an apartment is not defined as air pollution or an unreasonable smell and that the municipal inspection force has no authority to enter a residential place, as opposed to a public place, without a court order.
At the end of the procedure, Judge Bacher determined, among other things, that not every infiltration of smoke is a hazard, since it is required that the smoke or smell entering the house be unreasonable.
It also noted in its decision that it is doubtful whether the hazard can be effectively enforced under the bylaw and that the petitioners have not presented a way to do so.
Along with this petition, a petition was also submitted to the High Court, which has not yet received a decision, against the government ministries, for not acting to prevent harm to the public from the intrusion of second-hand smoke from neighbors who smoke on balconies, windows, houses and in the courtyards of the houses. The petition submitted by the Clean Air Association, Through attorney Amos Hauzner against the Ministers of Health, Environmental Protection and Internal Security, seeks to enforce the prevention of forced smoking in residential buildings, partly through the application of the Clean Air Law and the Hazard Prevention Law.
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Smokers still have the upper hand/ShutterStock
And meanwhile, while the discussions continue, many people die: according to the data, about 800 die a year from passive smoking in Israel, including those who are frequently exposed to cigarette smoke coming from a nearby apartment. About a year ago, a study conducted at Tel Aviv University was published, according to which, almost half of the families in Israel suffered from the phenomenon of "infiltration of passive smoking" that penetrates into the home, mainly by the neighbors, but for various reasons most of them prefer to get used to "living" with the danger and not to complain to the smokers.
Today, the working assumption is that the increase in awareness of the risk, motivates many more to express the They protested on the issue, especially if it is about apartments where babies live. "If I were the mother of a child with asthma who lives in a residential building next to an apartment where people often smoke on the balcony, who entered my apartment, I would move," says Prof. Leah Rosen emphatically The School of Public Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University. Leah is considered one of the most senior experts in her field, perhaps - the most senior of all. Her words leave no room for doubt: "Exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of dying from 'cot death', bronchitis, ear infections, Inflammation of the eyesight and countless other 'evil diseases', including problems in the development of eyesight and heart problems in the long term."
According to her, whether it is babies or adults who are exposed to smoke in these circumstances - the risk is dramatic: "There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and even exposure for a short time, and in a small amount, can cause tremendous damage, including asthma attacks and heart attacks."
This makes it clear that smoke from one cigarette can reach a distance of at least nine meters in the open air.
The density of apartments in shared buildings allows penetration into the neighbors' houses and damage to their health."
"You can't live like this."
Minister Idit Silman/Reuven Castro
And in the meantime, while the High Court is discussing the issue, more and more apartment owners are the ones who impose the ban, while inserting a clause in the contract according to which there is a general and absolute ban on smoking in the entire area of the apartment. From searching the various boards of the apartments for rent, on the various platforms, and from conversations we had with brokers , it appears that the graph is definitely in the owner's favor. "There is definitely such a trend, but it is mainly evident in places where there is a strong demand for apartments, which allows their owners to set such a condition, knowing that there are 4 other potential tenants who do not smoke," notes Itzik Levy, chairman of the union the brokers
According to him, property owners also want to avoid friction with the neighbors, but not at any cost: "If the apartment has not been rented for 3 months, then the landlord will 'swallow the frog' and let a smoker into the apartment."
Support for the matter is also received from the direction of experts in the field of smoking cessation.
"In the last year, we see more and more people who have decided to stop smoking, also because of the social and practical consequences of the matter: in many workplaces, smoking is not allowed even at the entrance to the building and they have to move away to do so. The same is true in many public places. Some tell of fights they got into with neighbors as a result The penetration of smoke into nearby apartments, and there are also those who had to give up apartments they wanted to rent due to the ban on smoking on their premises," notes Ehud Abrahamson, founder of the Abrahamson Institute.
According to him, these are the remains of toxic and carcinogenic particles and volatile compounds that remain in the environment after various smoking products are extinguished, even months after "the dangerous substances are absorbed by furniture, walls, surfaces and in fact, everything they come into contact with and are gradually released back into the air, and therefore may cause health damage, especially For babies and small children in the house."
In conclusion, Knesset member Idit Silman was able to put it nicely, as part of a meeting of the health committee that was held on the subject.
"I'll tell you the truth, I have a friend who bought an apartment, invested a lot of money in it, and the next day neighbors who smoke all day moved in. You can't live like that."
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