Police Investigations into the Extinguishing of Chanukkah Candles

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On December 19, 2025 the media reported that the Israel Police opened an investigation into an incident in which a passerby blew out Hanukkah candles that were placed in the Weizmann Mall in Tel Aviv. Reports stated that the police have not yet determined the nature of the alleged crime, and that it is considering charging the passerby with the crime of desecration of a place of worship. Two days later it was reported that another investigation was opened following documentation of a child blowing out Chanukkah candles at the entrance to a yard in Ramla. The police managed to locate the child, a minor, and summoned him and his parents to the station, where "the impropriety of his actions was explained to him.” 

Following these incidents, we appealed to the Legal Advisor to the Police and to the State Attorney. In the appeal, Attorney Hagar Shechter argues that the police lack the authority to open investigations into these cases, and that it was done contrary to law. The police opened a criminal investigation even before it identified that the act was criminal, and that opening a criminal investigation against an act that is not prohibited by law is fundamentally illegitimate. Even if it were possible to identify a crime in the actions of the child and the passerby, this is a minor act that does not amount to a criminal offense. The use of the prohibition against insult to a religion applies to serious actions such as burning scriptures or desecrating gravestones, and not a case in which a child blew out the candles of a menorah. We requested that the investigations be closed, and that clarifications be issued to the police regarding the limitations of its authority. 

ACRI's appeal, December 22, 2025 (Heb)