For second time in less than a week, Israeli sets self on fire in Tel Aviv area

Woman who sets self on fire in Or Yehuda remains in serious condition; police have not determined what drove her to act.

By BEN HARTMAN
Self-immolator Tel Aviv fire protester Moshe Silman 390 (photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
Self-immolator Tel Aviv fire protester Moshe Silman 390
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
A 34-year-old woman remains in serious condition in Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer on Saturday, a day after she set herself on fire in Or Yehuda.
The woman is the second Israeli in less than a week to set themselves on fire.
Tel Aviv police said Saturday that around 3:30 pm on Friday the woman doused herself with flammable liquid and set herself alight in an open area off Highway 412 in Or Yehuda. She was taken from the scene to Sheba Medical Center, where she remains in serious condition.
Police said they still have not determined what drove the woman to try to take her own life.
On Sunday, a Tel Aviv man died after he set himself on fire off Derech Hatayasim in south Tel Aviv. The man, later named as a 43-year-old Kfar Shalem resident, had reportedly fallen into difficult economic straits before he decided to take his own life.
That incident came less than a month after a 55- year-old father of two was hospitalized in critical condition after he poured a bucket of gasoline on his body and set himself alight on Yisrael M’salant street in south Tel Aviv, across the street from the junkyard where he worked and lived.
The man tried to take his life after he became embroiled in debt to the gray market and became involved in a dispute with his landlord over outstanding debt.
Israel has experienced a string of such attempts, both successful and failed since July 14, 2012, when Haifa native Moshe Silman set himself on fire at a social justice protest in Tel Aviv, after passing out copies of a manifesto detailing his economic and health problems. He died the day after.