Several grieving families who lost their relatives in the 2021 Mount Meron crisis fell on opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, as did the former prime minister’s political rivals, after telling a state commission of inquiry that he is not to blame for the fatal accident that occurred under his command. leadership.
Yisrael Diskin, whose brother is one of the other forty-five people killed in the incident, said Netanyahu had pursued a policy related to the Meron crisis that can be summed up as follows: “I didn’t read, I didn’t see, I didn’t hear, I didn’t receive, I didn’t know.
“During the [12] years in Netanyahu’s government, all government ministries were aware of the serious risks [of overpopulation] in the bush, but chose to stick to a culture of ‘believe me, everything will be fine,’ which led to this. Netanyahu’s responses were not satisfactory, and his claim that he did not know the site was a ticking time bomb is no less disturbing.
Netanyahu gave his opinion before the state commission last Thursday, stating that he was unaware of the serious security issues at the annual event, which took place at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I didn’t know there was a critical security issue,” Netanyahu testified. “I take up the duty for what lies ahead, and it is the epidemiological catastrophe, which I avoided. I can’t take up the duty for what I didn’t know.
The April 2021 incident, the devout holiday in northern Israel, was the deadliest civilian crisis in the country’s history. Around 100,000 worshippers, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, attended the festivities despite long-standing warnings about the safety of the place.
Many media outlets reported that Netanyahu, who was prime minister at the time, was under pressure from ultra-Orthodox political allies to approve the occasion without limit on participation, despite long-standing police considerations about the safety of the crowd. He met with ultra-Orthodox lawmakers before the occasion and agreed to remove all restrictions on the site in exchange for haredi parties for decided legislation.
At the time, COVID-19 pandemic regulations limited gatherings to just one hundred people, which meant that the Lag Baomer event at Mount Meron required special government-approved regulations to allow for greater participation.
Netanyahu rejected the concept that his movements at the time were politically motivated. “I didn’t act because of the tension the haredim were looking for to get it opened,” he said. foundation of the commands of the Ministry of Health”.
The committee’s former chair, former judge Dvora Berliner, challenged Netanyahu to explain why, during his many years in power, security considerations at the site had never been addressed, even though the issue had been raised repeatedly. “You were prime minister for 12 years. This [safety factor at the busy annual event] kept popping up,” Berliner said. “How, really, do you know why the case was not handled?”
Netanyahu rejected his suggestion and claimed that their governments had done more on the issue than any other. “I’m sorry, your honor, I’m not happy with your statement. The file has been processed, in accordance with the recommendations of the State Comptroller. . . . I dealt with it, I made decisions that were intended to deal with the other disorders on the mountain,” he said. “The only governments that did anything about the mountain were the governments I led. “
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Matan Kahana, who oversaw this year’s event and delivered an upcoming speech to the Knesset plenum in which he took office for misconduct, lashed out at the opposition leader.
“A user who will not take up the duty will not seek to lead the country,” Kahana tweeted, referring to Netanyahu’s preference to retake the post of prime minister after the upcoming Nov. 1 election.
Mocking Netanyahu for claiming to be unaware of the security risks in Meron, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman tweeted: “Just as I was unaware of the plight of IDF soldiers, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, staff and many others. It is a reference to the teams whose difficulties have made headlines in recent years.
“You didn’t know, you didn’t care, and within a year we gave them big pay raises and allowances that gave them a step forward in their quality of life. Bibi, you still don’t know, and we will continue to take care of those who love it,” he added.
The testimony of Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak Netanyahu is “shameful. “
“There is no doubt that this man, without any managerial competence, without integrity and without the ability to conform to the duty of anything, is not worthy of holding the position of head of state,” he said.
“Netanyahu, don’t you ‘know’ what caused the disaster?” tweeted Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan. Let me tell you that this is the unacceptable political intervention of you and your ministers in the previous government to allow [the opportunity to take a position without limit of crowds] even though you knew for sure that it would put lives at risk. “
Related: A Steep, Slippery Ramp, Uneven Stairs: Walking down the Road to the Meron Disaster
“Another forty-five people were killed, they blame everyone and only M. Netanyahu is not responsible,” said a sarcastic Yesh Atid MK, Ram Ben Barak.
In his testimony, the opposition president noted that many occasions involve mass gatherings and that the prime minister only intervenes if there are special security or suitability considerations. In this case, Netanyahu said, he was not concerned with danger considerations, but only in building the mechanism that would be what deserved to be done at the event.
Overseeing the occasion is the duty of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, he argued, not the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu said his involvement last year was only due to epidemiological considerations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not general security arrangements.
Related: After meron’s calamity, haredim value their own autonomy
Netanyahu is the top senior official to testify before the committee, which heard from more than a hundred other people, joined by former ministers who were present at the time.
On Wednesday, Ynet reported that Israeli police leader Kobi Shabtai and other senior officials are expected to be informed within weeks through the commission of inquiry that they will likely be found guilty of the disaster. These come with the head of the Northern District, Shimon Lavi, who on Monday announced his resignation from the force, bringing up the duty for the fatal Accident of Mount Meron.
While the committee’s recommendations require a long-term government to adopt them, no Israeli government has absolutely ignored the recommendations of a state commission of inquiry.
This year’s Lag Baomer event was held within strict limits. Authorities instituted several security measures to prevent a repeat of last year’s disaster, restricting crowd size, demanding tickets and modifying the way the event was organized.
The government also repaired the stairs and infrastructure around the complex to bolster security.
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