The Rise and Burning of Tel Aviv’s Exclusive Club A

In the early hours of a night in 1984, firefighters rushed to Club A in Tel Aviv but could only stop the blaze from spreading to a nearby gas station. By morning, the city’s most exclusive members-only club had been completely destroyed, along with millions of dollars invested in it. To understand what burned down, the story goes back more than 40 years.

Club A emerged during Israel’s shift in the 1980s from a socialist, centralized economy to a more capitalist one, when a new wealthy class was seeking status, glamour and influence. The club was the vision of Carmela Zilberman and was built in old north Tel Aviv, between HaYarkon and Ben Yehuda streets, with design and furnishings by architect Yoram Raskin. It spread across five luxury floors, including a Chinese restaurant, a dance club, a computerized stock room, a gym and a rooftop lounge.

Access was tightly restricted. Only 2,000 people were admitted after strict screening, and members paid extremely high dues. Inside, the country’s elite mixed together, including ministers and Knesset members from Likud and the Alignment, wealthy business figures, athletes and models. The club hosted events such as Penina Rosenblum’s singing nights, “economic club” lectures and fashion shows attended by top figures like Reuma Weizman and Lili Sharon.

The club’s rise was boosted by heavy media attention, especially from the weekly HaOlam HaZeh, and by Miriam Zakhori, the club’s public relations representative. But the fire ended everything. Police suspected the owners, Zilberman and her brother Moshe Bitter, had set the blaze to collect insurance money, and they were arrested. After long detention, no evidence was found, they were released and acquitted, and they collected the insurance payout. The only person eventually convicted was Yona Avizmar, a parking-lot worker near the club, who served three and a half years in prison. His motive remains unknown, and any possible backer was never identified.