Families denied entry to national park for having bread

A Tel Aviv couple has filed a discrimination complaint after witnessing families being denied entry to Afula’s city park on Sunday, for having bread in their possession.

The couple said they were surprised to discover the guard at the municipal park’s entrance looking through visitors’ belongings to check if anyone had any hametz (leavened food).

Michal Avivi, who described the incident in a Facebook post as “embarrassing and shameful,” said whole families were either turned away at the entrance or were forced to eat their picnics outside the park’s premises.

“In a 2015 Israel, people’s bags are being searched for food. Not weapons or bombs, food,” Avivi wrote.

“I had a hard time walking past the people outside who were being punished and ignore the brutal trampling of democratic values right in front of me,” she continued.

According to the letter of the Hametz Law, it is forbidden to sell or present hametz from noon on the eve of Passover to sundown eight days later. The law discusses merchants but says nothing about consumers.

The law is not applied in communities where Jews are a minority. Businesses selling hametz in violation of the law usually pay fines, and many restaurant owners decide the profits from selling hametz on Passover are well worth the fines paid, since traditionally Israelis who do not keep kosher have less choice on Passover and these restaurants have greater revenue during that week.

— Tamar Pileggi