(VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The levaya for the infant who R”L died in the jacuzzi accident in the Miami Hotel in Ashdod took place on Thursday, 20 Nissan. Police received a gag order on the ongoing investigation from the court and both the child’s mother and father were taken into custody. In addition, despite petitions to a district court and the High Court of Justice, a police request to perform an autopsy was approved by the court.

Stormy protests and pashkavilim in Israel and abroad did not succeed in preventing the autopsy, nor did the efforts of the ZAKA legal unit, which worked tirelessly. Police smelled foul play regarding events leading to the death of the child, and it appears the evidence presented to the courts was sufficiently compelling for the courts to rule against ZAKA’s request to prohibit the post mortem.

During the funeral procession, the body of the infant was taken from a ZAKA ambulance for kvura, leaving the area, presumably for burial on Har HaZeisim.

During the dramatic event, Jerusalem ZAKA Commander Bentzi Oiring was injured and required medical treatment at the Terem clinic in the city.

Calls were heard to the chareidi community, calling on the tzibur to participate in the funeral procession, and indeed the masses arrived at the Kikar Shabbos to pay their last respects to the infant who died at the beginning of the week. During the funeral, mechila was asked from the baby after his body was operated on that morning at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, despite efforts to prevent the autopsy.

ZAKA arranged to travel to Shikma Prison after the autopsy to permit the father to part from his son before the levaya.

ZAKA officials were fuming over the behavior of the tzibur, stealing the body for kvura and attacking Oiring uring the levaya. They explain ZAKA officials worked tirelessly, day and night since the death to prevent an autopsy and permit a timely burial.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)