A trip through time ended at the police station: Students at the Or Elchanan Yeshiva for Young People, located in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem, went out on Sunday morning for a day of fun in a public park in Beit Shean, as a way of bonding and preparation for summer time, which will open at the end of the week.
In the evening, when they wanted to sit down to eat in the boys' park in Beit Shean, and set up tables for a barbecue, neighbors began shouting at them: "You are desecrating Holocaust Remembrance Day" - and called the police.
Officers from the local police station arrived at the scene and detained the yeshiva's head, Rabbi Meir Eitan, and the instructor, Yossi Glantz, for questioning.
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The two were taken for questioning at the Beit Shean police station.
MK Moshe Gafni of the Torah Banner campaigned for their release, and before midnight they were released to their homes - without a fine.
During the incident, a police officer stormed into a minor yeshiva student who was standing and taking a picture near the Yom Kippur War memorial in the park. The police officer (name withheld) exceeded his authority when he violently slapped the 14-year-old yeshiva student.
The head of the household, Meir Eitan, who made his way back to Jerusalem after being released, tellsHaredim10"We filed a complaint with the police about the behavior of the police. It was a dinner and not any festive event. They detained us for hours for nothing, and all because of hatred for the ultra-Orthodox.".
The police said:
At 10:00 PM, a report was received that in the boys' park in Beit Shean, near the memorial to fallen IDF soldiers and Holocaust survivors, there were about a hundred students listening to music and making fire near the scene.
The police officers from the Beit Shean station who arrived at the scene did indeed notice two buses and next to them about a hundred young people aged 12 to 15 sitting and eating, with barbecues being lit next to them. These were students from the Jerusalem area who were apparently on a trip to the Jordan Park area.
The police detained the two teachers responsible (26 and 38), and questioned them on suspicion of offending religious sentiments, and ordered the students to disperse and leave the premises. In response, the teachers stated that they were looking for a place to eat dinner.
Beit Shean police have opened an investigation.
