Hospitalized activist vows to continue hunger strike

Social justice protester on 24th day of hunger strike; in separate incident, Tel Aviv man threatens to self-immolate.

By BEN HARTMAN
Social justice protest 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Social justice protest 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A social justice activist on the 24th day of a hunger strike was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday after he began to feel seriously ill outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Hours later, 44-year-old Tamir Hajij took to his Facebook page.
“I feel better, I was given vitamins and medication for stomach pains and general pain,” he wrote – before posting a picture of himself again standing outside the Prime Minister’s Residence with a cigarette in one hand and a cardboard sign in the other.
Hajij launched his hunger strike 24 days ago vowing to fast until Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to meet with him to speak about social issues facing everyday Israelis. So far Netanyahu has refused to see him.
Hajij told The Jerusalem Post that while doctors had advised him to reconsider his hunger strike, he aimed to continue fasting until he meets with Netanyahu, no matter the danger to his personal health.
“I am a determined man and I won’t stop until I meet the prime minister,” he said.
Later on Tuesday, a man poured a liquid on himself in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square and threatened to set himself on fire before he was stopped by police.
Tel Aviv Police spokesman Moshe Katz said that after the man was detained it was found that the liquid was only water. Katz added that it was unclear whether the man’s action was a form of social protest or the result of emotional distress.
Ever since social justice activist Moshe Silman selfimmolated at a demonstration in Tel Aviv on July 14 and died several days later, a number of Israelis have carried out similar acts or gone to public places threatening to do so. One was a disabled IDF veteran who died after setting himself on fire at a gas station outside Yehud.
Earlier this month, a man in Kiryat Arba walked into a National Insurance Institute branch and threatened to set himself alight. When he was stopped by police it turned out the liquid was water.