Tel aviv studio collapse: fashion designer faces a city's silent neglect
The sudden collapse of a Tel Aviv fashion studio, a brutal blow to a fragile industry, exposes a disturbing truth: a city seemingly determined to ignore its own vulnerabilities.
Noa geller’s fight for survival
Just hours before the holiday, fashion designer Noa Geller watched her Jaffa Road studio crumble, leaving her to shoulder the responsibility of saving her business alone. Six months ago, she’d moved into the six-story building, a hub for local designers, but the response to the disaster has been chillingly absent.
“With how this country’s been run over the past three years,” Geller told ynet, “I knew immediately I couldn’t rely on official bodies for a safety net. That feeling solidified with a municipal representative’s dismissive response: ‘My condolences. This isn’t a property tax issue. Good luck.’ It’s a glaring indictment of a system that prioritizes expediency over citizen protection.”
A war zone, unacknowledged
Geller isn’t accepting the explanation that the collapse is solely due to the ongoing conflict. “No one should say this isn’t connected to the war,” she insisted. “Just days before, a list of approximately 650 dangerous buildings in Tel Aviv was circulated – and no one is addressing it. It’s a blatant oversight. The building was structurally unsound, a fact compounded by the relentless barrage of shockwaves from cluster munitions that had been impacting the area.”
A dying ecosystem
Michal Hajjaj, Abramo Hajjaj’s daughter, echoed her concerns. Her father, a veteran textile manufacturer, had provided cutting and sewing services to countless designers, including prominent brands. “The excuse – that it’s not from the shockwaves – infuriates me,” she stated. “There was no chance, with the sirens and explosions throughout the morning, that it was unrelated. It’s a calculated cover-up.”
Israel’s fashion industry, a network of small, independent creators, relies heavily on skilled artisans like Hajjaj. The collapse represents a catastrophic loss, threatening the livelihoods of numerous workers and potentially silencing innovative design voices.