From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
After Meron inquiry, Labor party submits vote of no-confidence against Netanyahu
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Labor party submits a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a state commission of inquiry finds him personally responsible for the April 2021 Mount Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed in a crush at the hilltop gravesite of a second-century sage in northern Israel despite numerous safety warnings ahead of time.
“The State Commission of Inquiry regarding the disaster at Mount Meron placed personal, direct and clear responsibility on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that he knew about the danger, ignored the many warnings that were sent to him and did not oversee the implementation of the government’s decisions on the matter,” Labor says in a statement asserting that the government “must be replaced now.”
“This is a government that is dangerous to the State of Israel, that does not know how to take responsibility, neither for the Mount Meron disaster nor for the October 7 disaster,” the statement says.
Labor’s announcement comes after Netanyahu’s Likud party accused former prime ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett of turning the 2021 Mount Meron disaster “into a political weapon” against their successor. In response, Lapid accused Netanyahu of “harming the memory” of the victims in an attempt to evade responsibility.
Following the release of the commission’s findings, Labor leader Merav Michaeli called Netanyahu “dangerous for as long as he sits in the prime minister’s chair.”
Multiple no-confidence motions against Netanyahu brought by Labor and Lapid’s Yesh Atid have failed in recent months.
The Times of Israel Community.