“The country must come to the aid of small businesses. It is not just its moral obligation, it is also the key to the recovery of the economy as a whole.”

President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin and Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion today, Monday 18 May / 24 Iyyar, visited the new center in Jerusalem to support businesses which have suffered during the outbreak of coronavirus, set up in The Tachana area. They sat and talked with Jerusalemite business owners and then went to pick up a cold coffee from a local café.

The center to support businesses which have suffered during the outbreak of coronavirus, set up in The Tachana area on the site of the old railway station, offers services to all business owners in the city, whatever their turnover, and is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jerusalem Development Authority.

“The corona crisis has for some time now been more than a health crisis, with economic and social aspects. Behind every small business there is a big dream and whole lives. There are many Israelis whose livelihoods are under threat,” said the president.

“Israel now has a government, at last. Economic regeneration, including saving small businesses, is one of the most pressing issues on its agenda. The country must come to the aid of small businesses. It is not just its moral obligation, it is also the key to the recovery of the economy as a whole,” he added.

“Israel has faced stiffer challenges than this, and I am sure that we will be able to overcome this crisis too, its health and economic aspects.”

Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion: “As a former accountant, I understand what businesspeople are going through. The Jerusalem Municipality will allow tables and chairs to be put out on sidewalks without additional charges, will pedestrianize streets and will fund cultural activities to draw audiences. I see business owners like my own children.”

In their conversation, business owners told the president and the mayor of their daily difficulties at the moment.

Noam Rizi, an owner of the Adom restaurant chain, said “City Hall has a million dollars of intentions, but our situation is extreme. So far, I have received 1000 NIS. No grants and no loans. Our suppliers continue to ask for their money and we have no way of paying them because the money has stopped. The suppliers have been waiting for two months. We can’t even mortgage assets to pay them because that also takes time. And all this comes before I find any money to buy groceries. I have colleagues with tears in their eyes. We give money to each other from the nothing we have, and it now doesn’t matter when we open. Give us an option to get through the crisis. I owe 50,000 NIS management fees for the premises here for the last two months. How? Where from? I understand everyone, but there is a difference between the newspaper headlines promising grants and the chaos in reality.”

Gadi Dahan, a tour guide, shared the concerns felt by his colleagues. “I don’t sleep at nights. Our profession is in jeopardy. Our tourists have gotten older in recent years and I am very worried that they won’t come. And everything stopped all at once and people have nothing to eat.”

Lily Merhav Zeltzer, a Pilates teacher and studio owner said, “I lost 60% of my clients and we have gone back to work under restrictions that are not implementable. They keep the situation as it is now. I was anxious about the day when I would have to fire employees, the day when I couldn’t make rent. In the fitness business, our suppliers are our employees and the loans we have taken.”

Uri Navon, an owner of the Machneyuda group, said “We are people who know how to reinvent ourselves. We have always stayed open – rockets, suicide bombers, we always came in the morning and opened the doors. We are at the end of the supply chain, but there are many people around who rely on us at the end of the day. Overseas, our restaurants immediately got government aid and that gave us breathing room and a sense that there is something to come back to, that we will be able to recover. We aren’t asking for favors. We were closed by order. We were told ‘you cannot open your business,’ but all the payments are mounting up. We have all put in requests for loans and grants and we are doing all we can with the bureaucratic process, but we don’t know what will happen in the end.”

Esther Sa’ad, a tour guide for Israelis in Hebrew, said that she had found some advantages in the coronavirus outbreak. “I posted my tours on Facebook. I take fewer people because of the restrictions but we go out all the time. The municipality organized tours for Yom Yerushalayim and even though we make less, we are working and it’s wonderful. My business has no expenses and if I go out to work, I earn.”

The president and the mayor then wen to a local café and got cold coffee to take away. They spoke with the owner and expressed their hopes that the ‘First Railway Station’ area will be full of life again soon, as it was before the outbreak.