Owners of event venues were outraged Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced that the number of participants in public gatherings would be limited to 50 at bars, event venues, and nightclubs.
Venue owners say that the decision in effect means that all facilities that host parties will shut down operations, because it does not pay for them to host such small events. They are demanding compensation for their projected losses.
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Israel's Association of Halls and Event Centers issued a statement in response to the government decision: "Make no mistake – the government's decision to restrict the number of guests to 50 means closing down the sector. After months of dying slowly, this evening the final blow was delivered to the events industry. We are calling on the government: Shut us down? Compensate us."
The association said it did not want "another long-term plan, or more committee promises. We are demanding money in our pockets that will save 150,000 workers in the industry from disaster."
David Guedj, head chef at the Gaya event hall located near Moshav Beit Oved in central Israel, echoed the words that the decision was a "death blow" to his industry.
"We're all going to be furloughed again, and it's a real blow to couples [getting married]. Both we and the couples planned to work through July 9, the supplies have been ordered. Workers were already scheduled. We have already laid out the money for another week and a half of work. They told us we're closing on July 9, and suddenly they make a decision from one minute to the next?" Guedj said.
The chef says that holding celebrations for up to 50 participants is not a viable option.
"I can't turn on the AC for 50 people. It's not an option. You can't make a living that way and you can't work like that. They're taking us way back. No one believed this would happen. The kick in the belly is a lot more painful. The ramifications are tough. Three-quarters of event venues won't re-open on Aug. 1," he adds.
Owners of reception halls and other venues argue that their facilities are not sources of mass infection, and say that these venues are some of the few places in the country that enforce public health regulations for coronavirus.
"The source is the big parties held in Tel Aviv and on rooftops, at the beaches, in supermarkets, in day-to-day life. It's an insult that public transportation is actually a source of spread and no one is doing anything about it," one said.
Shai Chen, owner of the Princess hall in Haifa, argues that the decision makes no sense.
"It's disproportionate. It can't be that no one looks at the size of the place where people are gathering. How can the rules be the same for a 1,200-square-meter (13,000 square foot) venue as for a 400-square-meter (4,000 square foot) venue? It can't be that a 100-square-meter (1,000 square foot) café can hold 50 people, and so can a 600-square-meter (6,000 square foot) hall," Chen says.
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