Kiryat Shmona city official told by the manager to leave the Sheraton Grand
The Sheraton Grand Hotel in Tel Aviv has barred access for evacuated residents of the north from use of the hotel's dining room and has referred them to an alternate area away from paying guests where different food would be provided for them.
The move sparked outrage among the families who were forced out of their homes on October 7 and have been residing with their children in hotel rooms while their homes were under repeated attack from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Kiryat Shmona city officials met with the hotel management to try and persuade them to reverse their decision but to no avail. Now the municipality was threatening to see the help of the courts. Officials from the Tourism Ministry said they would intervene.
"Look at what they are doing to us," Shimon Buskila, a resident of the northernmost city said. "They do not want us here." He said that the hotel's attitude toward the evacuees changed earlier this month when the quality of the food provided to the group deteriorated. Other services were also cut or reduced. "Not only were we forced out of our homes, but now, the place we were evacuated to for our safety, also wants to oust us. Where is the government?"
Over 20,000 people remained in hotels across the country, while others chose to use government funding to rent alternative lodging. Many had complained of lack of space and privacy, lasting nearly nine months, with no end in sight.
But as others have returned to their routine including vacationing in hotels, the presence of the evacuees was considered by the hotel as a hinderance. "I beg the Israeli public not to come to the hotels on their vacations. This is not the time for a fun holiday," Buskila said. because you want to have a good time, we are being pushed aside.
He said his daughter was by the hotel pool with her children when a guest told her she did not think it was appropriate for the evacuees to use the same dining room. "You are parasites," he said her daughter was told. "It is time for you to bugger off and find apartments to rent."
Pe'er Pardo, an official from the Kiryat Shmona Municipality was told he would not be able to leave residents of the city on Sheraton Grand hotel grounds, on Sunday and that he must leave the premises.
In a letter to the management he wrote that the discrimination against the evacuees was equal to gender discrimination which he was sure, was unacceptable by the company. "The hotel receives payment for each Kiryat Shmona resident staying in it," he wrote. "Your decision is offensive to the families who have been suffering."
The hotel management declined to comment on the report.