Outrage is mounting at New York Times coverage of the recent Israel-Gaza war, with prominent Israeli and American Jewish leaders.
The first person we know of who made the connection between Meron and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a 12th-century Jewish traveler by the name of Jacob ben Netanel HaCohen, who wrote a travel diary of his visit to the Holy Land. He mentions Rashbi’s tomb in Meron, and adds that his son Rabbi Eleazar is also buried there. Oddly enough, various other medieval pilgrims who authored travelogues and visited Meron such as Benjamin of Tudela and Petachia of Regensburg neither mention the tomb of Rashbi, nor that of his son which, to be blunt, is a jarring omission.
Ultra Orthodox Jews look at stairs with waste on it in Mount Meron, northern Israel, where fatalities were reported among the thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered at the tomb of a 2nd-century sage for annual commemorations that include all-night prayer and dance, April 30, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/ Ronen Zvulun
Israel’s government watchdog said on Monday it would open an investigation into the deaths of 45 people crushed in a stampede at a Jewish religious festival last week.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said his office, which audits the government, would look into the circumstances surrounding the event at Mount Meron in the Galilee region.
Caught in tug of war between authorities, religious sects and interest groups, Israel's 2nd most-visited Jewish holy place has no full, official state oversight
Israel remembers festival dead: Day of mourning is held for 45 people crushed to death in stampede after British man, 24, was named amongst victims
Flags were lowered at half-mast across Israel on Sunday to mourn victims of the stampede on Thursday night
Brit Moshe Bergman, 24, from Manchester, was formally identified as amongst the victims on Saturday
Insiders claimed there was political pressure on police to hold the event at any cost ahead of deadly crush
Reports say the head of Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, asked there to be no limit of numbers
A total of 45 people were killed in the stampede at Mount Meron, Israel on Thursday, with at least 150 injured
Flags were lowered to half mast on Sunday as Israel held a national day of mourning for 45 men and boys killed in a stampede at a packed ultra-Orthodox Jewish festival. The deadly crush overnight into Friday at Mount Meron in northern Israel has been described as one of the worst peace time disasters since the nation's founding in 1948. The stampede happened as tens of thousands of people thronged the reputed tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to.