Israel Land Authority (ILA) employees in the Haifa district, who were evacuated from their premises in the Government Quarter that was damaged by an Iranian missile, have initiated sanctions and completely suspended public reception at the IBM Building on the crest of Mount Carmel. The background to these organizational steps is a unilateral decision by the Ministry of Finance to cancel the "half-hour adaptation period" granted to the employees following their forced relocation to remote and inaccessible workplaces, under the claim that the temporary premises have become "permanent". The Ministry of Finance clarifies that it intends to apply this approach horizontally to all state employees who were evacuated from their premises.
As a reminder, the the Sail Tower in the Haifa Government Quarter was hit by an Iranian missile strike on the afternoon of Friday, June 20, 2025. The direct hit caused severe damage to the office tower, which was declared a hazardous structure and remains closed and abandoned. A year later, repairing the damage is delayed for various reasons, and the Haifa Government Quarter has effectively dismantled, with its offices dispersed across various locations and alternative, rented buildings throughout the region.
Some of the core services were relocated outside the city: The Income Tax Authority moved to operate from Acre, and the Population and Immigration Authority (Ministry of Interior) was transferred to Kiryat Atta. Other offices remained in Haifa but moved away from the accessible Downtown area – including Ministry of Justice units (the State Attorney's Office and the Police Internal Investigations Department) which moved to Hadar HaCarmel, alongside the ministries of Health, Education, and Environmental Protection. The Israel Land Authority (Tabu) was transferred, as mentioned, to receive the public on the crest of Mount Carmel.
In a harsh letter sent yesterday by the Chairman of the Union of State Employees, Adv. Ofir Alkalay, to the Deputy Director of Salary and Employment Agreements at the Ministry of Finance, Noy Sofer, he protests the "termination of the half-hour adaptation period for Haifa district employees – a unilateral change and a violation of the existing arrangement." Alkalay emphasizes in his letter that the employees mobilized fully and continued to provide optimal service to the public despite the significant difficulties, and that the arrangement clearly stipulated that the adaptation conditions would apply as long as the circumstances of the relocation persist and until their return to their permanent location is settled.
"To our astonishment, a new position by the Salary Department was brought before us in recent days, according to which there is no room for the continued provision of adaptation conditions over time, partly under the claim that the alternative premises have effectively become the routine workplace of the employees," Alkalay wrote. "This position constitutes a fundamental change to the existing arrangement... This is a predatory decision by the Ministry of Finance and a blatant violation of the existing arrangement, and the struggle will only intensify." The Histadrut warns of a severe impact on parents of children and elderly employees, and demands immediate intervention to restore the half-hour adaptation period: "Insofar as the situation is not immediately restored to its former state... we will not hesitate to take all measures at our disposal, including organizational and legal steps."
Copies of the letter were sent, among others, to the Chairman of the Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, to the Director General of the Israel Land Authority, Yehuda Eliyahu, and to the Director of Salary and Employment Agreements at the Ministry of Finance, Effie Malkin.