Coalition votes down bill to provide compensation to Meron disaster victims

By Emanuel Fabian

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

14 July 2021, 4:42 pm

Edit

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

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.

A proposal to compensate families of victims of the April 30 disaster at Mount Meron — which left 45 people dead and over 150 injured — fails to pass a preliminary Knesset vote.

The bill, brought by opposition MK Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism), is shut down by the coalition 59-55, as the government says it had not yet formulated a position on the matter.

It proposed to establish a framework to provide assistance to the victims of the Meron disaster, which would be carried out according to a plan prepared by the Finance Ministry, through the establishment of a committee that would formulate criteria for the assistance, including the number of victims in the family and sources of income.

But Minister in the Finance Ministry Hamed Amar says the current wording of the law would lead to excessive costs, and therefore his office will examine the budgetary implications at a later date.