Despite the blanket ban on lighting bonfires as part of the Ministry of Health's guidelines to combat the spread of the coronavirus, ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh celebrated this evening (Monday) with mass bonfires, without masks and without maintaining distance.
In the Mea Shearim neighborhood, crowds gathered around lit bonfires, and footage from the Ungrin Houses neighborhood shows crowds gathered in great density around the fire and on the balconies of houses - blatantly ignoring the instructions.
Additional bonfires in which many participated were also lit in the Zichron Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, and on Even Hazel Street in the Ezrat Torah neighborhood.
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On Damascus Eliezer Street in Bnei Brak, hundreds of residents gathered around a bonfire that had been lit in the middle of the street. Firefighters who rushed to the scene immediately extinguished the flames and dispersed the revelers. In another incident, a firefighter was slightly injured by fireworks thrown at him in the Ramat Elhanan neighborhood in Bnei Brak.
Dozens of bonfires were also lit in Beit Shemesh.
The police, who arrived very late to the Mea Shearim neighborhood, said: "Israel Police forces acted to disperse a gathering of several hundred residents of the Mea Shearim area in Jerusalem, in light of the Lag BaOmer events, in violation of the guidelines of the Public Health Order.".
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The photos, which caused a stir on social media, also angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who spoke with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Deputy Police Commissioner, the head of the National Security Council and other officials about the violation of the guidelines and the lighting of bonfires that led to mass gatherings in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.
National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat said in a conversation that this is behavior that could lead to an outbreak of the disease.
The Prime Minister said he strongly condemns the violation of the rules and ordered immediate increased enforcement and the dispersal of gatherings.
