Bennett warns against Kanievsky funeral turning into a repeat of Meron tragedy
Procession for Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an influential religious leader with hundreds of thousands of followers, raises fears of crush similar to deadly Lag B’Omer disaster
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Sunday that the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky must not turn into a mass disaster with overcrowding and potential stampeding.
“The funeral is a mass event, and we must make sure that it does not end — God forbid — in a mass disaster,” Bennett said at the cabinet meeting. “I call on those attending not to crowd and squeeze together.”
Kanievsky was a hugely influential leader of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, with hundreds of thousands of followers.
But such a large gathering has raised alarm among officials, who worry that there may be a repeat of last year’s deadly crush at an ultra-Orthodox festival in the northern town of Meron in 2021 that saw 45 people killed and 150 injured in what was Israel’s worst ever civilian disaster.
“The trauma of the Meron disaster is still fresh for all of us. This tragedy must not be repeated,” Bennett said.
He asked for “everyone to take personal responsibility, to look after the children in particular.”
A forum of bereaved families from the Meron disaster called on the public and police to do everything possible to prevent a repeat tragedy.
“A million people at a funeral in the space of just one [square] kilometer is a real threat to life,” the forum said in a statement reported by Kan.
Rabbi Avigdor Hayut, who survived Meron but lost his son in the disaster, called on people to “take a step back, and not repeat the terrible scenes at Meron,” in a video.
He called on those participating to “give everyone his space, to let others move a little, to breathe.”
הלוויית הרב קניבסקי: תיעוד מהאוויר מרחובות בני ברק@shemeshmicha pic.twitter.com/1YXmH5S1OA
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 20, 2022
Some estimates said half a million people attended Kanievsky’s funeral.
Police attempted to maintain order as hundreds of thousands of people crammed into the narrow streets of Bnei Brak and onto rickety balconies.
“Don’t move forward, please, stop moving forward,” a police officer said over a loudspeaker in footage broadcast by Channel 12.
“I am talking about pikuah nefesh. There are small children and old people. Please stop moving forward,” he said, citing the Jewish concept of the importance of saving a life.
Israeli Air Force helicopters along with rescue crews were on standby in a stadium in the neighboring city of Ramat Gan, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to attend the funeral, with some estimates saying that a million mourners could converge on the city.
Major highways were blocked off in central Israel and police urged the public to avoid roads if possible.
In light of the expected congestion, numerous schools and kindergartens in central Israel notified students they would be holding studies remotely on Sunday.
Israel Railways also urged the public to avoid unnecessary trips, warning that “extreme crowding” was expected throughout the day.
