BREAKING NEWS

Man threatens self immolation at in Petah Tikva office

A police detective talked a 45-year-old man out of setting himself on fire in Petach Tikvah on Tuesday afternoon, the Central District Police reported.
According to police, the man arrived at the National Lottery headquarters in the city’s industrial district and poured some sort of flammable liquid on himself and began shouting that he was going to burn himself because of his dire economic state. Police said that the man is believed to have gone into debt partly because of years of playing lottery scratch off tickets, a possible reason that he chose the building for his act.
Police deployed a large number of officers to the scene, including Superintendent Boaz Deri, the head of the investigations branch of the Petach Tikvah police. The Central District Police spokesperson said that Deri sat with the man in his car for over a half hour and managed to talk him out of the vehicle.
Police said the man is currently undergoing treatment with the social services department in the city. 
Israel has seen a flurry of attempted and successful attempts at self-immolation ever since Moshe Silman set himself alight at a social justice demonstration in Tel Aviv on July 14th. Silman died less than a week later.