The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that “Acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid will live in the home of a Palestinian family expelled from occupied Jerusalem in 1948.”

Haaretz explained that “Lapid will temporarily move into this house because the official residence of the Israeli Prime Minister is undergoing renovations,” noting that “under the Missing Property Law of 1950, any property whose owner was in a hostile country at the time of temporary state of emergency must be transferred to Israel” because “by means of this law, the state confiscated all the property left by the Palestinian refugees in 1948”.

And pointed out that “Lapid’s decision to move to the villa of Hanna Salame, which is located near the official residence of the prime minister on Balfour Street, violates a long-standing principle of some former prime ministers.”

According to the newspaper, the house was built in 1932 at 2 Balfour Street by businessman Hanna Salame, who at the time was a representative of General Motors.