Drug addicts and homeless people take over central Tel Aviv: "Like New York after the pandemic"

Residents of elite Tel Aviv neighborhoods complain about an invasion of homeless people and drug addicts: syringes in gardens, people relieving themselves in stairwells, residents afraid to go out in the evenings. The municipality is accused of inaction and ineffective patrols.

Residents of prestigious Tel Aviv neighborhoods — Montefiore, Dizengoff Square, and the Noga quarter in Jaffa — complain about a sharp deterioration in the situation with homeless people and drug addicts. They report used syringes in gardens, people relieving themselves in stairwells, and attempted break-ins. A resident of the Montefiore neighborhood, Noa, mother of a one-and-a-half-month-old baby, says she is afraid to go out for evening walks and feels "like in Harlem." A resident of the Noga quarter, Adi, links the problem to the operation of a local homeless shelter that is open only at night, and criticizes the municipality for inaction and "playing cat and mouse" with the homeless. Yuval Ben-Gal, owner of a fitness studio on Dizengoff Square, notes that the situation has worsened over the past year, and drug addicts inject themselves right on the square. The article is based on interviews with three residents and was published by Ynet on October 23.