ANDIsraeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is declared one of those responsible for the stampede that occurred in April 2021in which 45 people died and about 150 were injured, during a massive religious celebration on Mount Meron in Galilee, in northern Israel, a state investigative commission determined today.
“There is a credible basis to claim that Netanyahu knew that the tomb of (Rabbi Kever) Rashbi had been poorly cared for for years, and that this could create a risk for the crowd of visitors,” the report concluded, blaming him for a poor maintenance of the sacred place for years “putting human life at risk.”
“A bad culture caused this terrible disaster on Mount Merón,” concluded the report, which says that many knew for years of the precarious conditions and lack of security at the site, so The catastrophe could and should have been avoided.
Investigators understand that Netanyahu and his office had the responsibility to “proactively identify” these risks, but “did not act as expected of a prime minister to correct this situation.”
In charge of supervising the functioning of the public administration, the State Controller's Office had warned in 2008 and 2011 of deficiencies on Mount Merón.
The 322-page report published this Wednesday considered Netanyahu as such “personally responsible” for the tragic event, along with former Minister of Internal Security, Amir Ohanawho is today the current president of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).
Regarding police chief Kobi Shabtai, the committee recommended that he be removed from his position, but due to Israel's five-month war in Gaza, it said the date of his resignation could be determined by the Government.
The investigation determined that Shabtai “was unable to safely accommodate the expected number of visitors” during the religious celebration and ignored the dangers it entailed.
The now former Minister of Religious Services, Yaakov Avitan, was also declared responsible for this tragedy.after some 100,000 religious people – mostly ultra-Orthodox – gathered to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag Baomer, whose agglomeration triggered an avalanche with people crushed and killed by suffocation.
EFE and AFP
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