Meron commission finds a tragedy foretold: ‘Netanyahu knew or should have known’

Among the findings of the State Commission of Inquiry into the Meron crush during a pilgrimage on Lag Ba’Omer in April 2021 is the idea that officials should have known a disaster of this type was only a matter of time and worked to fix the problems instead of ignoring them, comparing the saga to a “Greek tragedy, whose end was known from the start.”

“The writing was on the wall well before the disaster, written in big block letters, in a clear, sharp way, but were not paid attention to… Many of the findings in the report were open and known to all. The terrible result that it could lead to was known.”

Of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the report’s authors write: “There is a reasonable basis to conclude that Netanyahu knew that the site of Rashbi’s grave was improperly dealt with for years, and that it was liable to be a danger to the masses that visit the site, especially on Lag B’omer. Even if, in the name of caution, we assume Netanyahu didn’t have concrete knowledge of the matter, given what happened he should have known about it.”