Mount Meron disaster

Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai on January 8, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

October 15, 2021, 2:22 pm

Police chief Shabtai said to have opposed crowd curbs at deadly Meron event

Ex-police commander Alkalai launches scathing attack on commissioner at state panel investigating crush that killed 45 people, sparking calls for Shabtai’s resignation

By TOI staff

Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather at the grave site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021, as they celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer (JALAA MAREY / AFP)

September 1, 2021, 6:35 pm

Police, ministry passed buck on Meron crowding, ex-COVID czar tells panel

Nachman Ash says that while he recognized that checking participants for proof of vaccination would be difficult, he didn’t expect police to allow tens of thousands into holy site

By TOI staff

Eli Friend, manager of the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, arrives to testify before the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee, in Jerusalem, on August 24, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

August 24, 2021, 3:04 pm

Manager of Rashbi gravesite tells Meron probe his authority is ‘limited’

Eli Friend testifies before commission into Israel’s worst civilian disaster: ‘I begged, but I was not even invited to a single meeting’

By TOI staff

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch testifies before the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee in Jerusalem, on August 23, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

August 23, 2021, 2:12 pm

Rabbi of holy sites tells Meron probe: I had no authority over Lag B’Omer events

Shmuel Rabinovitch testifies before commission into Israel’s worst peacetime disaster: ‘They didn’t tell us there was an issue with the passageway. Nobody brought it up to us’

By Amy Spiro

Israel Police Northern District Chief Shimon Lavi arrives to testify before the Meron disaster commission of inquiry on August 22, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

August 22, 2021, 1:16 pm

As Meron probe opens hearings, top police officer laments years of ‘neglect’

Northern district chief says failure to impose caps on attendance was itself driven by safety concerns, as barricades could cause ‘bottlenecks and much greater disasters’

By TOI staff and AP

Former Israeli Supreme Court head Miriam Naor and other members of the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee visit the site at Mount Meron where 45 people were killed in a crush during Lag B'Omer celebrations, on August 2, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

August 5, 2021, 8:06 pm

State inquiry into Meron disaster summons its first witnesses

Northern District Police Commander Shimon Lavie and Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel, among six officials called to testify

By TOI staff

Members of the state commission of inquiry into the tragedy at Mount Meron tour the site on August 2, 2021. (Screenshot/Twitter)

August 2, 2021, 3:58 pm

Members of state inquiry into Meron disaster are protested while touring site

‘We won’t let you take the site out of ultra-Orthodox hands,’ demonstrators chant as representatives examine infrastructure in their probe of deadly crush

By TOI staff

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.

July 21, 2021, 11:20 pm

Ombudsman suspends probe of Meron disaster to let state commission take lead

Matanyahu Englman says move will allow official inquiry to ‘optimally and exclusively’ investigate the deadly crush that killed 45 people in April

By TOI staff

July 14, 2021, 6:24 pm

Knesset rejects bill to provide compensation to Meron disaster victims

UTJ’s Ya’akov Asher’s proposal falls in a 59-55 vote; minister says government has not yet formulated its position on the issue

By Emanuel Fabian and TOI staff

A screenshot of security camera footage shows suspects vandalizing posters of the victims of the Mount Meron disaster. (Screen capture: Twitter)

July 14, 2021, 3:39 pm

Ultra-Orthodox men tear down victims’ pictures at memorial for Meron victims

‘A red line was crossed,’ say families of those killed in the deadly crush during Lag B’Omer celebrations at the shrine; police investigating

By TOI staff

Illustrative photo of an Israeli F-15 fighter jet. (Tsahi Ben-Ami/Flash90)

July 14, 2021, 1:55 pm

Iron Dome almost knocked out Israeli jet during recent Gaza conflict

IDF says incident in which interceptor missile locked onto F15 plane, mistaking it for Hamas rocket, under investigation

By TOI staff

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

July 12, 2021, 4:38 pm

Attorney general freezes criminal probe into Meron disaster

Avichai Mandeblit says priority will be given to the state commission of inquiry to investigate the deadly crush that killed 45 people in April

By TOI staff

Workers dismantle a temporary structure at a compound in Meron, northern Israel, on June 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

July 4, 2021, 6:28 pm

Meron disaster commission begins investigation, orders documents handed over

Attorney general given 30 days to present government reports on planning of Lag B’Omer event at Mount Meron, where 45 people were killed in a deadly crush

By TOI staff

The newly appointed members of the Meron disaster commission: Commission chair and former chief justice Miriam Naor, right, former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz, left, former IDF planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai, 2nd left, and sitting Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, 2nd right, who chose the commission members, on June 27, 2021. (Courtesy Courts Authority)

June 27, 2021, 11:52 am

Former chief justice Naor to head Meron disaster probe, with sweeping mandate

Mordechai Karelitz, former Bnei Brak mayor, will be Haredi voice on 3-member panel, alongside IDF’s ex-head of planning; April 30 tragedy claimed 45 lives, mostly ultra-Orthodox

By TOI staff

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

June 22, 2021, 12:56 pm

Police said to question 2 top Hasidic figures over Mount Meron disaster

Toldos Aharon officials reportedly suspected of negligent homicide over event where 45 people were crushed to death; cabinet has okayed state commission of inquiry

By TOI staff