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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, April 30, 2021

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Israeli security officials and rescuers carry the body of a victim who died during a Lag B'Omer celebration at Mt. Meron in northern Israel, April 30, 2021 (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

45 crushed to death, over 150 hurt at mass Lag B’Omer event in Meron

Many in critical condition as ambulances, helicopters evacuate victims from largest gathering held in Israel since COVID outbreak; kids said among dead, injured

Screen capture from video of Shahar Ba'al Haness, who was injured during Lag B'Omer celebrations at Mount Meron, seen in Galilee Medical Center, April 30, 2021. (Nathan Jeffay/Times of Israel)

Buried alive: ‘I thought I was going to die,’ says teen injured in Meron tragedy

By Nathan Jeffay and ToI Staff

Shachar Ba’al Haness, 19, describes how he was crushed beneath a pile of bodies, and struggled to breathe for five minutes until police rescuers pulled him out

Israeli rescue forces and police at a mass fatality scene during a gathering for the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel, on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

‘The dead were all around us:’ Survivors describe Mount Meron crush horror

Hundreds of Haredim at a funeral in Jerusalem for one of the victims of the Meron tragedy, April 30, 2021 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)Israel's worst peacetime disaster

12 of 45 Meron victims laid to rest before Shabbat; PM vows full inquiry

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Until last minute, health officials sought to limit number of attendees at Lag B’Omer event but faced push back by MKs who wanted largely Haredi crowd to revel as in years past

7:18 pm

US national security adviser: Vienna talks on Iran nuclear program at 'unclear place'
7:03 pm

Suicide truck bomber hits Afghan guest house, killing 14
7:02 pm

Number of fully vaccinated in US tops 100 million; Biden orders restricting of travel from India

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate the lighting of a bonfire during celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer on Mt. Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

State comptroller warned for years of overcrowding danger at Meron site

Reports in 2008, 2011 raised concerns; internal police document in 2016 said site was chaotically managed, couldn’t safely accommodate numbers that attend annual Lag B’Omer event

Israeli rescue forces and police on a metal-floored walkway hours after a mass fatality event during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Meron exit route was known for years as bottleneck; police commander takes blame

The crowd in the moments before the Mount Meron tragedy, April 30, 2021 (Screen grab)

'I shouted to the police: People are dying here'

‘Death trap’: Packed walkway, slippery metal floor – how Meron tragedy unfolded

By Raoul Wootliff

Fatal crushing occurred as large numbers of ultra-Orthodox participants moved through narrow passageway, on an incline, on the exit route from the pilgrimage site

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

Netanyahu laments ‘terrible disaster’ as politicians react to Meron tragedy

Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene after a deadly crush during celebrations on Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 30, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)

Justice Ministry unit probing if police negligence led to deadly Meron crush

Top row (L-R): Menahem Zakbah, Simcha Diskind, Shraga Gestetner, Shimon Matalon; 2nd row (L-R): Moshe Natan Neta Englard, Yehoshua Englard, Yosef David Elhadad, Moshe Mordechai Elhadad; 3rd row (L-R): Haim Seler, Yedidia Hayut, Daniel (Donny) Morris, Nahman Kirshbaum; 4th row (L-R): Abraham Daniel Ambon; Yedidya Fogel, Yisrael Anakvah, Moshe Ben Shalom

The victims

Victims of Meron tragedy include 2 sets of brothers, father of 11, 6 US citizens

Most victims identified; at least two families lost multiple children

People outside the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, where victims of Mount Meron crush were brought to be identified, April 30, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Families gather at forensic center as officials work to identify the Meron dead

Israeli rescue forces after a crush killed dozens during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)

Phones of the Meron dead still ringing with calls from ‘Mom’ and ‘My dear wife’

Hundreds of Israelis line up to donate blood following the deadly Mt Meron crush, on April 30, 2021. (Screenshot: Channel 12)

Arab towns offer food, drink to Meron survivors; hundreds give blood in Tel Aviv

Residents of nearby villages set up help stations for thousands making their way home; large lines at mobile units in Tel Aviv as residents wait for hours to donate

Ultra-Orthodox Jews at the scene of a deadly crush during Lag BaOmer festival at Mt. Meron in northern Israel, April 30, 2021 (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Global leaders, Jewish groups express ‘shock’ and ‘heartbreak’ at Meron tragedy

By Lazar Berman

Saudi emergency personnel stand near bodies of Hajj pilgrims at the site where at least 717 were killed and hundreds wounded in a stampede in Mina, near the city of Mecca, at the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia on September 24, 2015. (STR/AFP)

The world’s deadliest stampedes — all at pilgrimages

By AFP

Masses of people try to get on buses to leave Mount Meron following a deadly crush on April 30, 2021. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

Reporter's Notebook

Mass confusion as tens of thousands try to leave Mt. Meron after deadly crush

By Judah Ari Gross

Traffic jams, frustration as throngs of men, women and children try to get home before Sabbath; lack of organization leaves hundreds of buses stuck on single-lane route

Op-Ed

Mount Meron, the disaster everyone knew was waiting to happen

The pilgrimage site was never properly equipped to cope with the vast annual crowds. The particular walkway was a known bottleneck. So why was a tragedy foretold allowed to happen?

Israeli rescue forces and police at a mass fatality scene, after a fatal crush in a packed walkway, during celebrations of the holiday of Lag B'Omer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate during a Lag B'Omer gathering on Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)

In largest gathering since COVID, 100,000 flock to Mount Meron for Lag B’Omer

Jewish pilgrims seen at the gravesite of Rashbi, or Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, in Meron in the northern Galilee ahead of the start of the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer, on April 29, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Officials warn of COVID spread as thousands of pilgrims descend on Mount Meron

Meron: Tragedy for all of us

Now is a good time to stop hurling chairs and insults at each other. Instead, do the only appropriate thing and reach out with love and empathy

We want people to be able to overcome their origins, but what about a bad seed? The sages argue that this apple fell not far from its tree (Emor)

Rachel Sharansky Danziger

Praying together in the depths

It’s tempting to jump to accusations. Instead, while the dead remain unburied and we reel in pain, I think of those in need of healing, and I pray

Abu Mazen’s epic elections blunder is a gift to Hamas

East Jerusalem riots were just an excuse to cancel voting when it became crystal clear the terror organization would have a giant win

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech regarding the coronavirus pandemic, at PA headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 5, 2020.

Now we could see a revolt, or worse, warns former PA adviser

Abbas delays first Palestinian elections in 15 years, blaming Israel

By Aaron Boxerman

PA head says election won’t be held until Israel lets East Jerusalemites vote; cancellation had been expected for days; Hamas calls it ‘a breach of national consensus’ and ‘a coup’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announces that the PA legislative elections will be indefinitely delayed, on Thursday, April 29, 2021. (WAFA/Tha'ir Ghanayem)

Hamas slams Abbas’s decision to delay Palestinian vote as a ‘coup’

By Aaron Boxerman

Party leaders ahead of the 2021 elections (from left): Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gideon Sa'ar, Benny Gantz (Courtesy)

Lapid, Bennett, Sa’ar said progressing in marathon talks on ‘change bloc’ gov’t

Yesh Atid, Yamina, New Hope meet for day-long session; Ayelet Shaked said to seek return to Justice Ministry; Ra’am hints at ‘significant development’

A view inside the Jewish Community Secondary School in North London. The school was allegedly the site of 14 incidents of sexual misconduct. (Jennifer Singer/ via JTA)

Prestigious Jewish schools in London reel over allegations of sexual abuse

Naga Sadhu, naked Hindu holy men, wait for the start of a procession towards the river Ganges for Shahi Snan (Royal Bath) during Kumbh Mela, in Haridwar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Monday, April 12, 2021. As states across India are declaring some version of a lockdown to battle rising COVID-19 cases in a nationwide second-wave, thousands of pilgrims are gathering on the banks of the river Ganges for the Hindu festival. The faithful believe that a dip in the waters of the Ganges will absolve them of their sins and deliver them from the cycle of birth and death. (AP Photo/Karma Sonam)

Analysis

The only real herd immunity is global: Why India’s COVID crisis threatens us all

While vaccine-makers are confident their shots block the current Indian variant, it’s transforming the country into a potential breeding ground for new, more resistant mutations

Travellers at Ben Gurion International Airport on April 18, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Health Ministry to require quarantine for all travelers from 7 virus-hit nations

Conductor Dan Ettinger has returned to Israel after a year at his home in Mannheim, Germany, and is rehearsing 'Die Fledermaus,' opening at the New Israeli Opera on April 30, 2021 (Courtesy Dan Ettinger)

Israeli Opera roars back with ‘rock star’ conductor Dan Ettinger

By Jessica Steinberg

Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei reacts after losing to Belgium's Matthias Casse in the semifinal fight in the men's under-81 kilogram category during the 2019 Judo World Championships in Tokyo, on August 28, 2019. (Charly Triballeau/AFP)

Iran hit with four-year judo ban for ordering athletes to avoid Israelis

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Judo’s international governing body cites ‘repeated and severe breaches’ of its statutes, highlighted by the case of judoka Saeid Mollaei

Blinken, Yossi Cohen meet in Washington as Israel presses its case on Iran

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Shakeup in Iran’s presidential office after Zarif tape leaked

By AP and ToI Staff

Israel’s ambassador to the US: We won’t be bound by Iran deal

Some of the protesters at the Justice for Sarah Halimi rally in Paris, April 25, 2021. (Cnaan Liphshiz/ JTA)

First person

At Sarah Halimi rally in Paris, signs French Jewry is nearing a breaking point

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Illustrative image of a robot, Artificial Intelligence (AI); (PhonlamaiPhoto; iStock by Getty Images)

Using smartphones and AI, psychiatrists get toolkit for remote assessment

By Jake Epstein

Israel-based medical startup Montfort creates app to help diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders, transforming mental health into exact science

More Headlines

Then-Supreme Court Justice Menachem "Meni" Mazuz at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, November 10, 2014. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Judiciary and rule of law are under assault, retiring justice warns

An Israeli soldier detains a Palestinian child close to al-Rakiz in the south Hebron hills on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 (Credit: Nasr Nawajaa/B'Tselem)

IDF says detention of 5 Palestinian children near illegal outpost was a mistake

Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, a senior aide to the US ambassador to Israel, speaks from the embassy in Jerusalem to an online conference of Christians United for Israel, April 30, 2020. (YouTube screenshot)

Netanyahu offered American right-wing rabbi senior role in 4th election campaign

By Tal Schneider

In this image from video, a suspect attempts to stab a police officer with a sharp object near the West Bank city of Efrat on April 30, 2021 (Screenshot: Twitter)

Palestinian tries to stab cop, soldier in W. Bank, is shot and hurt, police say

By Emanuel Fabian

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