Amid thousands of new coronavirus cases reported daily, hundreds of people gathered in Jerusalem for a synagogue inauguration and the dedication of a new Torah scroll in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Rafi Peretz on Thursday night in the Malha neighborhood, N12 reported.
Also in attendance were both chief rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Rabbi David Lau, N12 reported.
The report states that many of the participants did not wear masks or maintain social distancing, despite the Jerusalem Municipality claiming that the incident took place withing the framework of the "traffic light" restrictions.
The event took place on the backdrop of many others that occurred in violation of Health Ministry restrictions and were consequently shut down and handled by the police.
The police stated that they, "will work day and night to enforce regulations regarding holding events." They also stated that as of Thursday night, "500 IDF soldiers were deployed for reinforcement efforts throughout the country as part of the national effort to preserve public peace and health."
Also on Thursday night, a nightclub in Rishon Lezion was shut down after people were found having violated ministry regulations. Police infiltrated the nightclub in an undercover operation while impersonating a club goer.
Upon entering the club, they understood that the club had violated the purple ribbon standard. Hundreds of people were crowded into the club without maintaining social distancing, both workers and customers were found without masks, and people were dancing against regulations, according to the police report.
The police broke up the crowd and the nightclub owner was summoned to a court hearing.
Moreover, in the same night, 15 weddings were dispersed by the Northern District Police for violation of ministry guidelines regarding the spread of the coronavirus.
In one wedding that took place in the Arab city of Zarzir, located 10km outside of Nazareth, the groom and his father were detained during celebrations after information gathered revealed that there was a higher number of participants in attendance than allowed at the event, and that people were dancing against regulations.
In the end, both men were released and they were fined a thousand shekels. Some of the amplification equipment was also confiscated, a number of other participants were also fined.
In the past week, police have visited many businesses across the country, including event halls and gardens, both proactively and following a report of suspected violations, the police report stated. To date, 90 hearings have been held and 14 event halls have been closed.