Why were the potential dangers of the passageway where 45 people were crushed to death on April 30 not recognized in advance, where were the police, and why were they so slow to respond? These are some of the lingering questions following the worst civilian disaster in Israeli history
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, then commander of the Border Guard, September 28, 2017.
On Tuesday night, the Jewish residents of Lod, including the Religious Zionist enclave that has been studying Torah and doing outreach in the city for two decades, announced that they refuse to meet with Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai after the latter’s unfortunate statement that he plans to deal with “terrorists on both sides.”
Itâs the kind of even-handed statement one would expect from, say, the BBC, or the AP: Jews and Arabs are involved in mutual, violent clashes. The statement did not befit the head of Israel’s police, who has access to the data that show at least 10 synagogues were attacked and burned in the past week by Arab rioters across Israel, and at the same time, 28 mosques were exposed as weapons storage sites. 112 Jewish homes have so far been burned in Muslim riots, compared to one house of an Arab family in Jaffa, which turned out to have been set on fire by A
Play audio
1XChange playback rate from 1 to 1
Mute audio
Nevertheless, he added, they will also continue probing the incident on separate tracks, “to preserve the independence of each agency’s investigation and its ability to uncover the truth in optimal fashion.” Moreover, only Justice Ministry investigators will question police officers, so the police won’t be involved in the decision on whether any of the officers should be considered a suspect.
The prosecution will oversee the joint investigative team and rule on any disputes that arise between the agencies. Mendelblit’s statement noted that the heads of both the police’s investigations and intelligence department and the Justice Ministry department had termed the probe “very complicated” due to the multiplicity of governmental, public and private bodies involved in the disaster.
Israel’s largest religious festival turned into its largest peacetime tragedy late last week, as 45 celebrants were crushed to death, and dozens more were injured, under the feet of fellow
0 shares
Northern District Commander Shimon Lavi (R) and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai (R) at Mount Meron ahead of the tragedy, April 29, 2021 (Israel Police)
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai has asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit for either a state commission of inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster or some other form of official investigation of the incident last week, during which dozens of people were crushed to death, the Kan public broadcaster reported Wednesday.
There have been increasing demands for a state investigation of the tragedy during Lag B’Omer celebrations last week, in which 45 people including numerous children and teenagers were killed and over 150 were injured.