Insensitivity on Holocaust Remembrance Day: School trip holds barbeque near memorial

Teachers responsible for 100 students at Beit She'an park taken in for questioning by police following complaints.

By BEN HARTMAN
barbeque 311 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
barbeque 311
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The decision to hold a barbecue next to a memorial to victims of the Holocaust in Beit She’an on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day led police to temporarily detain two men Sunday night.
Police said that around 10 on Sunday night they received a call that a group of around 100 people was barbecuing and listening to music next to a memorial for fallen IDF soldiers and victims of the Holocaust at Habanim Park in Beit She’an.
Officers who arrived at the scene found some 100 students aged 12 to 15 from the Jerusalem area who were barbecuing and eating at the site.
Police detained two teachers responsible for the group, aged 26 and 38, and questioned them on suspicion of “harming religious sentiments.”
The men were released almost immediately, though an investigative file was opened by Beit She’an police.
Police said the group leaders told them that they had been touring in the area all day and were simply looking for a place to eat on their way back to Jerusalem.