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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.
Bodybags at the scene of the Mount Meron disaster, April 30, 2021 (Screenshot)
However, neither of these two probes has the authority to investigate relevant ministers, including the ministers of public security, interior and religious affairs, and the prime minister himself, all of whom were involved in various meetings relating to preparations for the event.
Both national Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and Northern Command chief Shimon Lavi are set to be called to give testimony to the PIID probe.
Israael police Northern Command chief Shimon Lavi, at Mt Meron, on April 30, 2021. (YouTube screenshot)
Lavi said soon after the disaster that he bore “overall responsibility” for the event and thus for its consequences. A Channel 13 report said, however, that he does not intend to resign.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces a new plan to fight crime in Arab Israeli communities on February 3, 2021 (screenshot: YouTube)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a long-awaited plan to combat violence and organized crime in Arab Israeli communities on Wednesday night, but the initiative drew immediate criticism for being “too little, too late.”
“I cannot imagine a future of the State of Israel which contains a Wild West without law order, with violence, crime, and terror. We will overcome it,” Netanyahu said, pledging NIS 100 million ($32 million) to the issue.
Arab Israeli politicians and civil society figures immediately chided the plan as “too little, too late.”