Shai  Avnieli Insights & News / 

In recent days, the story of an Arab citizen named Samar Graeb has made headlines. About a year ago, he bought a house in the "Hapoalim neighborhood" in Afula and applied to be accepted as a neighborhood resident. The neighborhood committee rejected his request, claiming that it was a neighborhood with a Jewish, Zionist, and secular character.Firm partner Shai Avnieli is representing Mr. Graeb in proceedings before the neighborhood committee and has appealed its decision.Next week, a meeting is expected to convene, during which members will vote on whether to accept or reject the neighborhood committee's decision.

As an expert in the infrastructure field, Shai Avnieli was interviewed for Calcalist’s podcast to provide his highlights for the year 2020. He analyzed how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the industry and where the infrastructure industry is headed.

The article mentions the Ministry of Finance's decision to exempt from a tender process LR Industries Ltd., an Israeli importer, thus allowing it to supply millions of COVID-19 testing kits to the Ministry of Health, at an estimated value of USD 7.7 million. In response, veteran Israeli company Biological Industries Bet Haemek filed an administrative appeal and a motion for an interim order against the decision. This process was led by Advs. Shai Avnieli and Shay Bello from our firm.

At the end of June, the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced that due to the coronavirus crisis the time in which a contractor can delay delivering an apartment without being sanctioned will increase to 100 days. Shai Avnieli, a partner in our Infrastructure Department, published an opinion article in Globes on the subject. He commented: "This decision, which stems from a desire to solve this complex issue, is indeed welcome. However, although this decision has a significant impact on the construction market in Israel, it does not fix the issues of the construction market as a whole, particularly not the infrastructure sector."

Israel is undertaking a massive transformation to modernize its infrastructure, with a series of projects in transport, energy, and defense. British magazine The Lawyer interviewed Shai Avnieli, an expert in the infrastructure area, on the subject. In his comments, Shai noted that providing legal advice for complex projects is not something just any lawyer can do. "This practice area is not some buzzword that lawyers can quickly adapt to and it is certainly impossible to quickly become adept in this field," he stressed.

On March 22, 2020, emergency regulations were published in Israel on limiting market activity for the purposes of managing the spread of the coronavirus. The construction and infrastructure sectors were declared exempt.

Shai Avnieli served as a guest lecturer as part of an arbitration course held by the Israeli Association of Construction Infrastructure Engineers.