About 5,000 Israelis gathered together at a beachfront concert in Tel Aviv, with social distancing regulations completely falling by the wayside and nary a face mask to be seen.

The concert was apparently approved by the police and was supposed to be held in accordance with health ministry regulations, according to a Channel 12 News report.

However, although there were reports that attendees initially tried to keep a distance from each other, it didn’t last for long. And few were wearing masks but that may have been due to the fact that the requirement for masks was temporarily lifted due to the heatwave this week, which finally began to break as of Friday morning.

The concert was held as a solidarity event for musicians and other performers who had no work during the past two months, when strict coronavirus restrictions were in place.

Religious reporters couldn’t help but compare the huge concert, which drew no criticism or even attention from the media, to the scathing attacks on any gathering of Chareidim that even slightly stretched the rules. And on the same day of the concert, gathering in Jerusalem for Yom Yerushalayim, which normally draws thousands of participants, were limited to hundreds due to coronavirus restrictions.

Kikar H’Shabbos pointed out that Tel Aviv is actually currently heading the list in the number of coronavirus cases, with a .35% rise in the number of cases on Thursday compared to 0% in Bnei Brak and .08% in Jerusalem.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)