As Meron probe opens hearings, top police officer laments years of ‘neglect’

A government commission investigating a deadly accident at a Jewish pilgrimage site in April held its first day of hearings Sunday, almost four months after the crush at Mount Meron left 45 people dead.

The April 29 incident at the Jewish festival in northern Israel was the deadliest civilian disaster in the country’s history. Around 100,000 worshipers, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, attended festivities despite longstanding warnings about the safety of the site.

Hundreds of people bottlenecked in a narrow passageway, where a slippery slope caused people to stumble and fall.

The resulting human avalanche killed 45 people and injured at least 150.

In June, the government approved the formation of an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate safety shortcomings at the site.

A panel headed by former Supreme Court justice Miriam Naor began proceedings with testimony from Northern District police chief Shimon Lavi, the officer who was in charge of managing the event.

Victims of the April 30, 2021, Mount Meron disaster: Top row (L-R): Chen Doron, Haim Rock, Ariel Tzadik, Yossi Kohn, Yisrael Anakvah, Yishai Mualem, Yosef Mastorov, Elkana Shiloh and Moshe Levy; 2nd row (L-R): Shlomo Zalman Leibowitz, Shmuel Zvi Klagsbald, Mordechai Fakata, Dubi Steinmetz, Abraham Daniel Ambon, Eliezer Gafner, Yosef Greenbaum, Yehuda Leib Rubin and Yaakov Elchanan Starkovsky; 3rd row (L-R): Haim Seler, Yehoshua Englard, Moshe Natan Neta Englard, Yedidia Hayut, Moshe Ben Shalom, David Krauss, Eliezer Tzvi Joseph, Yosef Yehuda Levy and Yosef Amram Tauber; 4th row (L-R): Menachem Knoblowitz, Elazar Yitzchok Koltai, Yosef David Elhadad, Shraga Gestetner, Yonatan Hebroni, Shimon Matalon, Elazar Mordechai Goldberg, Moshe Bergman and Daniel Morris; 5th row (L-R): Ariel Achdut, Moshe Mordechai Elhadad, Hanoch Slod, Yedidya Fogel, Menahem Zakbah, Simcha Diskind, Moshe Tzarfati, Nahman Kirshbaum and Eliyahu Cohen.

Lavi said the Mount Meron festivities are the Israel Police’s most significant annual event, requiring extensive resources, planning and preparation. He said that out of safety concerns “there has been no limitation on attendance at Meron — that’s how it has been done for the last 30 years.”

Any attempt to limit entry and put up barricades could result in “bottlenecks and much greater disasters,” he said.

The site in northern Israel is believed to be the burial place of celebrated second-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The tomb complex and adjoining structures are managed by the Religious Services Ministry’s department for holy places.

Experts had long warned that the Mount Meron complex was inadequately equipped to handle the enormous crowds that flock there during the springtime holiday, and that existing infrastructure was a safety risk.

Members of the Meron disaster commission (L-R) former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz, Commission chair and former chief justice Miriam Naor and former IDF planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai seen during the commission’s opening session in Jerusalem, on August 22, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

April’s gathering went forward this year despite fears of mass coronavirus infections at the site, as powerful ultra-Orthodox politicians reportedly pressured then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government officials to forgo attendance restrictions.

Lavi said there had been “neglect for many years” and “a lack of understanding that the event grew over time and that the infrastructure was not adequate, but rather a kind of Band-Aid.”

The commission has called on five other officials to appear in addition to Lavi: Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel; former Israel Police deputy commissioner Alon Asur; Yosef Schwinger, head of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; Yisrael Deri, the head of the northern branch of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; and Eli Friend, manager of the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene of the fatal crush during Lag B’Omer celebrations on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel, on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Former chief justice Naor is joined on the panel by former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz and former Israel Defense Forces planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai. The panel has been granted a budget of NIS 6 million ($1.83 million) to investigate how the disaster unfolded and probe the decision-making processes that authorized the event.

After the state inquiry began its work, the attorney general suspended the criminal investigation into the disaster in order to give priority to the governmental commission. Shortly afterward, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman also suspended his investigation of the tragedy for the same reason.

The establishment of the committee has been met by anger from some in the ultra-Orthodox community, who fear they will be blamed for pressuring for the event to go ahead as planned despite warnings of overcrowding.

Others, including many of the families of those deceased, have welcomed the investigation.