The manager of the Halev Harachav restaurant in Eilat, where a massive brawl took place on Saturday, said that it broke out after a group of 13 people were angry that a couple had been serviced before them.
According to the manager, he had to protect the hostess with his body so that she wouldn't be attacked, until a woman tried to knock a stand down, which started the incident.
“I tried to calm them down but I couldn't,” he said.
Police arrived at the scene and began investigating the incident. According to initial suspicions, the fight broke out following an argument about a line in which those involved were standing.
“We take violence of any kind seriously and will take the necessary actions in order to reach the truth and bring those involved to justice,” the police said.
Ronald, the manager of the restaurant, told 103FM in an interview on Monday about the incident. “A group of 13 people signed up for a table and were upset that we provided service to a couple before them,” he recollected.
“They started talking rudely to the hostess and I came to her aid. I put my body in between them and managed to calm them down, but at the last second, a woman tried to knock down the hostess's podium. It surprised me that 99% of this mess started because of a woman.”
“The heat probably affected them and they didn't like that a couple entered in front of them,” Ronald said about the beginning of the incident. “I tried to explain to them that when a small table vacates, then I put a couple in because a table of 13 people takes time to vacate. They started talking rudely to the hostess and I came to help her.”
“The heat probably affected them and they didn't like that a couple entered in front of them.”
Ronald, Halev Harachav manager
How did the fight start?
Ronald tried to speak to the group calmly while attempting to disarm the situation. “One of them wanted to say something back because there were young people behind me, who also told them to calm down,” he said.
He added that several people were lightly injured in the incident. “I received a blow that I didn't even feel the time, only the next day.”
Recalling the rest of the incident, Ronald explained that “I came to protect the hostess, an 18-year-old girl, and then one of their guys and a few others started to approach and raise their hands. I tried to calm things down, but I wasn't able to.”
He proceeded to move the hostess inside the restaurant to keep her safe. “Nothing happened to her, she was shaking a little from all the mess.” He added that when the police arrived, the group left the scene.
Out of that group of 13 people, it seemed that only the men joined in the brawl, according to Ronald, some of whom even had children with them.
Before the brawl started, while Ronald tried to calm down one of the people present, he told him that “You're not at the beach, you're not at a football game, there are pregnant women here, God forbid they get hit in the stomach, you can kill a baby. There are children here, old people like me—I'm 63 years old—this is no place for such things.”