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January 30, 2004/Shevat 7 5764, Vol. 56, No. 19
Israel struggles with no-smoking laws
LOOLWA KHAZZOOM
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sabra, an asthmatic from Tel Aviv, was at a nightclub enjoying live music when the man seated next to her lit up a cigarette.
Unable to breathe and unable to speak over the loud music, Sabra gestured to the man to let him know that the smoke was bothering her. The man responded by turning toward Sabra and blowing smoke directly in her face.
That's when Sabra punched him.
Sabra, who asked that her last name not be used, is one of countless Israelis convinced that Israel is a staunchly pro-smoking society and that asking law-enforcement authorities to enforce anti-smoking laws is an exercise in futility.
Jerusalemite Charlotte Herman recalls talking to a guard at the Interior Ministry who was smoking directly beneath a no-smoking sign.
"When I showed him the sign, he claimed it referred to the one-inch space beneath it," Herman says. "He said that where he was standing, two inches away, smoking was allowed."
The battle between smokers and non-smokers has become so heated in Israel that fisticuffs sometimes occur.
Dov Rabinowitz, director of the national committee against public smoking, Ma'avak B'Tabak - "Struggle Against Tobacco" - recalls an incident where a doctor was attacked after asking a hospital visitor not to smoke.
According to Israel's Health Ministry, almost 30 percent of Israelis are smokers; in development towns, which typically are poorer, the number is closer to 50 percent. Between 8,000 and 11,000 Israelis die each year from causes directly related to smoking, and about 1,000 to 1,500 are killed by second-hand smoke.
Officially, Israeli law mandates that all places of employment - including stores, movie theaters and cafes - must post signs informing customers that smoking is not allowed. Business owners may create designated smoking areas that take up no more than one-quarter of the business area. Businesses and customers flaunting the rules may be fined.
Smokers insist that anti-smoking laws are enforced every day all around them.
"This law has turned smokers into a persecuted minority," cries Angela Ben Tsvi, waving her cigarette as she speaks. "It violates my personal rights. It violates my right to free expression. I feel like a criminal when I smoke in a cafe. I always have to look around me to see if I can light up. It's very unpleasant."
Rinat Laufmann, another smoker at Espresso Bar, says businesses should choose whether to allow smoking or whether to be entirely smoke-free, allowing smokers to choose which establishments to patronize.
Mati Gudiner, one of many smokers enjoying a cigarette at a cafe at Dizengoff Center, a popular Tel Aviv mall, asked the waitress if smoking was permitted before she lit up at a table in the mall's walkway.
Though she is a smoker, Gudiner says the government needs to insist on enforcing the anti-smoking law.
"I think it's just an issue of getting used to it, as with every new thing," she says. "It's difficult to introduce this law after people were allowed to smoke for so long. It was the same in New York and in Sydney. It was hard; people were used to smoking. But as soon as they made it a law, there was nothing to do about it."
In Israel, however, where authorities are lax about enforcing the law, no-smoking rules have taken longer to catch on. The lack of social pressure in Israel against smoking has helped keep alive a culture of tolerance toward smokers.
Cafe, restaurant and bar owners say it's impossible to get Israelis to stop smoking, regardless of the law.
In Israel's capital city, city inspectors are responsible for issuing tickets for no-smoking violations, Rabinowitz says he was informed by a spokesman for the Jerusalem municipality, Ayal Chaimovsky.
Chaimovsky told Rabinowitz that, due to budget cuts, inspectors don't go out on patrols but act only when complaints are registered.
For the past few months, Ma'avak B'Tabak has tried a new tactic to encourage Jerusalem to enforce the smoking laws.
"We have a private donor ready to fund these inspectors that the municipality supposedly has no budget for," Rabinowitz says. "We also have volunteers ready to send in reports, to be the eyes and ears."
Government officials tell him that there are legal complications involved in taking a private donation, he says.
Gidi Shmerling, a spokesman for the muncipality, said there are legal restrictions involved with accepting donations to enforce specific laws.
However, he said, "If a donation comes in at a specific amount, and the goals the donor seeks are set down, the municipality's legal counsel is prepared to examine the opportunities to use this donation pro-actively regarding the subject of enforcing the smoking laws in the city.''
Until the issue is resolved, it seems the only clear thing is that the City of Gold will remain the city of smoke.
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