Smoking Kills 154 Israelis Every Week

Around 8,000 Israelis die every year from diseases caused by active or passive smoking, according to new figures published by the Israel Cancer Association, which warned that smoking remains the country’s leading preventable cause of death.

The data, released ahead of the Health Ministry’s annual smoking report to the Knesset, shows widespread exposure to secondhand smoke in public spaces across Israel.

According to a new survey conducted by the association, 93% of Israelis are exposed to passive smoking in public places. The most common locations include restaurants and cafés, where 49% reported exposure, followed by bus stops and beaches at 43% each. Another 40% said they are exposed to smoking at work.

The survey also found broad public opposition to smoking in shared spaces. Some 80% of Israelis said they would prefer that people not smoke in public places, a figure that rises to 92% among non-smokers. Nearly three quarters of respondents said the smell of cigarette smoke bothers them when they are near someone close to them.

The findings also pointed to gaps in public awareness. Only 44% of Israelis knew that the law bans all smoking products, including e-cigarettes and hookahs, in public places covered by the law.

The survey found that 76% of smokers want to quit, with the figure rising to 86% in the Arab sector. In addition, 72% of smokers said they regret ever starting.

Nearly half of the public said they know someone who wants to stop smoking but is struggling to do so. Among smokers, that figure reached 53%. Respondents cited habit, enjoyment, stress and the difficulty of quitting as the main barriers.

The association also warned about smoking during pregnancy, after about a quarter of respondents said they had seen or knew a pregnant woman who smokes.

Moshe Bar-Haim, director general of the Israel Cancer Association, said the numbers should shake the country.

“This is a real epidemic in every sense, one that takes no fewer than 154 Israeli victims every week, about 8,000 people a year,” he said. “That is more than traffic accidents, attacks and terror. This number should shake the state, shock the legislature and rattle enforcement bodies.”

The association said smoking is linked to cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, fertility damage and pregnancy complications. It also warned against e-cigarettes, citing research linking them to damage to the lungs, the developing teenage brain, the cardiovascular system and other organs.

Bar-Haim said tobacco and nicotine companies are increasingly reaching children and teenagers, often without parents fully understanding the danger.

“This is a concrete danger to the younger generation,” he said. “The fight against smoking is a national mission for all of Israeli society.”

He added that reducing smoking rates cannot be left to the Health Ministry alone and called for a broader national effort against what he described as the top preventable cause of death.