"Like in a horror movie": Residents of a building in Rishon LeZion fear their neighbor, and authorities are not helping

Residents of a residential building in Rishon LeZion find themselves in a reality they describe as a horror movie, following the behavior of a neighbor in his 20s. What began as property harassment, such as spilling oil and smearing silicone on cameras, escalated into cases of sticking a screwdriver into neighbors' doors, which led to panic among families and children. The tenant, known for going in and out of hospitalizations, lived for about six years in the house alongside his mother; in recent weeks, she left the house following confrontations and arguments with him, leaving him to live alone. Since then, the neighbors say, the sense of threat in the building has worsened.

"We are in a situation where I don't know what to do," says Dina Zilberstein, a resident of the building living opposite the apartment. "He walks around in an unusual way in the lobby, in a bathrobe with a ski mask and a beard. We installed a camera in the door peephole because of him, and we saw in the video how he arrives with a screwdriver, sticks it into our door, scrapes there, and puts silicone. When you see these images in front of your face, it looks like it's taken from a horror movie."

The heavy feeling of fear directly affects the children and families in the building. "I have a 10-year-old child, and he is simply in hysteria," shares Dina. "A child who is on summer vacation, and even now, is supposed to walk around and enjoy himself, is afraid to go out to the stairwell. Every time he enters or leaves, he asks me to stand outside and guard him. He doesn't sleep well at night and is afraid that the neighbor will move to our balcony. We feel terrified."

The other neighbors in the building also describe a complex reality of ongoing anxiety. R., another neighbor living in the building, tells of the daily panic: "We live in constant fear, the panic here is daily. It is impossible to know what a moment will bring and how an innocent incident in the stairwell might end. People here are afraid to take out the trash or let children go down in the elevator alone. Any small noise in the corridor makes us all jump."

R. also said: "The feeling is that they are just waiting for a disaster to happen so that something will move. We have already seen what happened in Beit Shemesh. What exactly are they waiting for, for someone to be murdered? Only then will they start to treat it? Why not treat the symptom of the problem before it's too late?"

Serial harassment: throwing objects from the balcony and strange substances at apartment entrances

The damage to property and the lifestyle of the 12 apartments in the entrance has become a matter of routine. The residents tell of various and recurring cases of harassment: spilling cooking oil on the floor on the floor, smearing silicone on camera peepholes and on the elevator, and even unidentified black substances smeared near the apartment entrances. In the past, they note, objects were even thrown from the apartment balcony.

According to the neighbors, appeals to the authorized bodies did not help. "We were at the police and filed a complaint," says Dina. "The police officers told us that as long as he hasn't attacked, there is nothing to do. I myself also turned to the district psychiatrist, and the answer we received back was 'turn to the police, we cannot do anything.' How is that possible? It is their direct duty."

The residents emphasize that their claims are not directed against the neighbor himself as a person, but against the helplessness of the system. "The person is sick, he doesn't understand what he is doing, and we understand that. His place is simply not in a normative environment without supervision and treatment. We feel that we have fallen between the chairs of bureaucracy. The police refer to the psychiatrist, the psychiatrist refers to the police, and we are left alone at home with fear and apprehension that we will go out and maybe not return."