In a major step for social justice in Israel, Housing Minister Yoav Galant ordered the Director General of the Housing Ministry to stop all evictions of public housing residents until a committee can be organized to discuss alternatives. The announcement came mid-speech in response to a protest staged by the Public Housing Team in partnership with the Shatil-coordinated Forum for Public Housing. The activists protested the Ministry’s evictions of poor families from public housing units due to debt and other minor violations. The Minister actually paused mid-speech to order the Director-General of his Ministry to stop evictions that are underway.

“We applaud the decision of the Minister of Housing to stop the evictions,” said Forum member, Maytal Cohen. “It’s a disgrace that the state has evicted people from their homes while thousands of [public housing] apartments are held by nonprofits and other organizations that are not entitled to or in need of them, according to the State Comptroller’s report. We will continue to fight evictions and stand alongside public housing residents.”

Photo credit: Tal King – via Flickr (source)