Thousands participated in the ‘Kabolas Pnei Rabbo’ event in the Jerusalem Arena Stadium, which included the members of the Shas Moetzas Chachmei HaTorah, headed by HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen Shlita. The turnout was a large one, especially after Shas’ success in the Knesset election, earning eight seats.
The thousands celebrated Yomtov together, listening to the address of Chacham Cohen as well as Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri. Deri apologized to the crowd waiting outside. Thousands arrived from around Israel, hoping to get inside to participate in the event. Police however prevented many from entering, explaining to the disappointed crowd that the arena was full to capacity. Violence and then rioting erupted at the entrance to the stadium.
Police arrested eight youths on suspicion of violence and disturbing the peace in a public area. Later, all were released. “During the incident, despite the significant police presence, additional people tried to enter by force and against the instructions of police and security guards stationed at the entrances,” the police said.
On the other hand, the bnei torah who were outside the hall presented another version of the situation, according to which the security guards allegedly used harsh and excessive violence against those who wished to enter the stadium.
According to a Kikar Shabbos News report, a video obtained showing the entrance to the stadium shows a security guard seen holding a young man who wanted to enter the conference and a riot ensued that included violence, tear gas and the young man was thrown to the ground. It should be emphasized that the video does not show what happened beforehand, and it is possible that the young men confronted the security guard. Any attempt to obtain the response of the security guard was unsuccessful.
“It makes no sense,” said one of the participants who attended the conference. “Thousands of people came from all over the country and stayed outside, in the Jerusalem cold, and some of them had to return home with great disappointment,” he said, adding “they treated us inconsiderately, as if we were fans of a sports team and we came to attack other fans”.
It is also reported the Shas-affiliated deputy mayors and city councilmen from around the country were unable to get into the stadium, forced to return home without attending. However, those attending reported there were “hundreds of empty seats inside”. Stadium officials’ report that the seats were full and apparently, some persons left their seats and headed down to the VIP area.
The security company also showed photos depicting violence by the Shas crowd attending, adding 15,000 people arrived but the stadium only holds 10,000. Hence, Israel Police was compelled to shut down entry to so many.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
I don’t get it. Once the police publicly announced the stadium was full and no additional persons would be allowed in for fire and safety reasons, who were these animals (some dragging young children with them) who ignored the police and tried to force their way in anyway??? What gives with these hoodlums who simply refuse to follow instructions from safety officials and jeopardize the own lives and those of others.
This Chol Hamoed has been a real eye opener for me personally. While there is beautiful kavod hatorah and proper celebrations of Yom Tov going on allover there is massive chilul Hashem as well. Fighting, stealing in all shapes and forms very sad.
What did you expect? This is the supporters of SHAS, NOT Deri!
Looks like they didn’t show any respect for the authorities and then got what they deserved.
I don’t understand why YWN would even publish stories like this. A chillul hashem story then brings out more and more people to criticize the behavior of others, and frankly, we have more than enough of that already (myself included, since ironically, this is exactly what I’m doing, so all you people that are going to jump on me, I’ve already done it for you).
YWN should promote a healthy outlook on yiddishkeit and Judaism in general, not make top stories about the horrific behavior of other jews. It’s become the National Inquirer of the religious world.
PuhLease: well said!! Don’t forget, however, that without sensationalist spin and attention-grabbing headlines — YWN’s advertisers won’t be happy. And that would indeed be very serious — at least for the owners of the website. Anyway, according to YWN editorial doctrine, it’s important to always remind everyone at every possible opportunity how frum people often act in an unruly manner.
btw- Did anyone notice that the Police in this video are ALL Arabs ?