Court Asked to Vacate NIS 55 Million Arbitration Award

The Dispute Over the Project That Never Materialized

The Zaluf family, through the Savirsky Brothers Partnership, owns a 2.8-dunam lot on Eilat Street in Tel Aviv’s Florentin neighborhood. In 2013, the parties agreed on a 188-unit residential project, but no building permit was obtained for approximately five years, and the contracts with the purchasers were canceled. In 2022, the dispute over the reasons for the project’s failure and the financial losses was referred to arbitrator Eitan Orenstein.

What the Arbitrator Ruled

In April 2026, Orenstein issued a 70-page award and assigned 55% of the damages to the landowners. He accepted the developer’s argument that the owners’ refusal to sign the bank financing documents contributed to the project’s failure, while also recognizing that there were additional causes. The partnership was ordered to pay Boulevard Terra NIS 55 million; according to the source, the amount continues to increase by hundreds of thousands of shekels in interest each week.

The Grounds for the Motion to Vacate

The applicants note that Orenstein’s attorney in the criminal investigation, Jacques Chen, is the brother of attorney David Hamo—a partner and head of the litigation department at the Firon law firm. Hamo represented Boulevard Terra in other proceedings concerning the same project, although in the arbitration itself the company was represented by the Arnon, Tadmor-Levy law firm. In the partnership’s view, this connection should have been disclosed because it creates a “real and objective concern of bias”; the applicants argue that there is no need to prove an improper motive or conscious influence.

The Other Side’s Position and the Status of the Case

The Firon law firm stated that its ties with Boulevard Terra, Hamo’s work, and attorney Zvi Firon’s indirect holding of 2.7% of the company’s shares were known to both parties. The firm emphasized that it did not represent the developer in the arbitration and called the attempt to link it to the arbitrator through the family relationship between Hamo and Chen baseless. The source notes that courts rarely intervene in arbitration awards, particularly when the connection is remote, but does not report a final court decision on the new motion.

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