Woman threatens to set herself on fire on Highway 6

Wave of self-immolation attempts continues, following deaths of Moshe Silman and Akiva Mafa’i

Traffic police on Monday took into custody a woman who had doused herself in fuel and was threatening to set herself on fire on Highway 6. The woman was said to be agitated and crying when police found her, with a lighter in her hand.

Israel has seen a wave of attempted self-immolations since social activist Moshe Silman set himself on fire during a protest in Tel Aviv earlier this month. He died a week later. Following Silman’s desperate act there have been several attempts at self-immolation that were prevented.

To date, only one copycat has succeeded in setting himself alight: wheelchair-bound IDF veteran Akiva Mafa’i, who suffered burns on 80 percent of his body. He, too, eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Stuart Winer contributed to this article.