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Mute audio The best way to clarify the circumstances surrounding this tragedy and to learn the necessary lessons that will prevent such a thing from happening again, is to carry out an investigation under a singular body, Mendelblit said, not amid a multiplicity of decentralized investigations.
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Attoreny General Avichai Mendelblit in Israel s top court, last month.Credit: Emil Salman
Despite the attorney general s approval, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to oppose a state commission of inquiry, the type of investigative panel that has the broadest of powers, including the power to subpoena witnesses.
Schwinger retorted by saying that the responsible party in this area is Israel Police, and we must not allow them to run away from this matter.in practice the landlord here in the field, in terms of safety, is the Israel Police.
The police are pointing fingers at the director general of National Center for Development of Holy Places and those responsible for the holy sites in the north – both of which fall under the authority of the Religious Services Ministry. Why aren t they asking them for answers? A senior official in the police wondered, They re the ones who determined when people leave and enter the site, and who lit [the bonfire] and where, and they re responsible for the safety of the area and the engineers who approved the structures. They appeared at all the meetings and debates ahead of the event. Where have they gone all of a sudden?
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
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Rescue forces and police at the scene after a mass fatality scene during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B Omer on Mount Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)
A forum of former Israel Police chiefs on Sunday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a state commission of inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster last week that saw 45 people crushed to death at a religious festival.
In a letter to the prime minister, the Retired Police Commissioners and Major General’s Forum said only a thorough investigation examining the role of all bodies involved in organizing the annual Lag B’Omer event at Mount Meron can provide sufficient input to prevent another disaster in the future.
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Haredi hats and broken glasses are seen at the site of the Mt. Meron disaster in northern Israel, Friday, April 30, 2021 (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
As the initial shock and horror over Thursday night’s deadly crush at Lag B’Omer festivities on Mount Meron began to subside, focus started to turn on Friday toward the matter of who was to blame for the packed conditions at the site that led to the deaths of 45 people and the injuring of dozens of others in the fatal stampede.
Stark questions will likely be directed at political, civil and law enforcement officials involved in planning, approving and securing the event, amid talk of a potential state commission of inquiry to thoroughly investigate the disaster.