Dozens of female employees of the Ministry of Education headquarters in Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate of the Old City, received on Thursday a gift, via the Ministry of Defense: handy containers of self-defense pepper spray, Walla reported. The decision to give out what is essentially a weapon was reached in light of the security situation, with several terrorist attacks having taken place near the headquarters building.
As the wave of terrorism was increasing, and with so many terrorist attacks taking place at the Damascus Gate and the Nevi’im Street in Jerusalem, the female employees at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education approached the ministry’s security department to please provide them with the means to defend themselves. This resulted in the distribution on Thursday of pepper gas spray containers to any female worker asking for one.
The Education Ministry headquarters is comprised of several buildings, located at the intersection of the Neviim and Shivtey Israel Streets, just a few dozen yards from Highway 1 crossing between east and west Jerusalem, and the Damascus Gate complex, where there have been several attacks in recent weeks. Once the need was established and approved, the Defense Ministry was only too happy to provide the containers from its existing stock.