Nine families of those killed in the Meron disaster, who together lost ten family members, some of them small children, are demanding more than NIS 46 million from government ministries, rescue and emergency services and a number of private bodies that provided permits for the Meron celebration, according to the huge lawsuit filed today (Monday). The Haifa District by Adv. Eran Becker.
Behind the lawsuit are several families who lost their children in the incident: the Elhadad family, who lost their two young children, Yosef David and Moshe Mordechai, as well as the families of Yosef Yehuda Levy Tantau, Nachman Kirshenbaum, Moshe Levy and Yishai Mualem, all minors.
In addition, members of the family of Simcha Bunim Diskind, Ariel Tzadik, Mordechai Pekete and Shraga Gashtner are behind the lawsuit.
The family of the latter, who was a successful ultra-Orthodox singer, live in the United States.
The lawsuit was filed against a long line of government bodies, including the Israel Police, the Ministry of Internal Security, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Religions, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism, the National Center for Holy Places, the National Fire and Rescue Authority, Magen David Adom, the Ministry of Economy and Industry. And the Meron Hagalil Regional Council.
In addition, the Moshav Meron, the Five Committee for the Management of the Rashbi Tomb, and the two dedications - the Dedication Committee - the Ashkenazi community in Meron and the dedication of the Sephardic community in the Safed and Meron community - are sued.
The list is signed by two engineering bodies that approved the incident and that the plaintiffs believe are responsible for the incident from the safety side - BCS Engineering and Safety Company and engineer Amer Khalilia who is the owner of the company.
The timing of the lawsuit is not coincidental, and comes just two days before the anniversary of the Meron disaster and the merriment in Meron.
Last week, Shimon Israel Elhadad, the brother of Yosef David and Moshe Mordechai, referred to the difficult feelings and said that he believes that not everyone involved in the celebration has internalized the proper conclusions.
Now, just before the celebration for the first time since the disaster, moments after the Israeli government decided that the families of the victims will be compensated and when the committee of inquiry into the Meron disaster has not yet published its main conclusions - families stop the silence and sue tens of millions in civil lawsuits. .
According to the families, all the defendants are responsible for what happened - and some are also responsible for the celebration this year.
To some extent the indictment is an indictment of the families against what happened on that horrible day exactly a year ago, and the families' lawyer, Adv. Eran Becker, does not spare words to prove their guilt, and redistributes what happened in the last moments of the disaster. "In Basson, 45 men and children were trampled, crammed and perished, and 145 people were injured due to crushing and suffocation caused by crowd crowding.
The dead in the disaster died in a most tragic death, while slow suffocation and crushing. "
Has not yet published its main conclusions.
Discussion of the inquiry committee, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"The deceased were crushed under a crowd, which caused very long minutes of great suffering," the lawyer described.
"During these long minutes, right in a battlefield in constant chaos, the deceased cried out for help, begged, stood their ground and fought for their lives hoping to be rescued and rescued. "Slowly beneath the crowd, they found it difficult to breathe, and the oxygen slowly weakened from their lungs, with the rest of their strength until their voice slowly disappeared, until they swelled their souls.
He accused the state of serious conduct of culture "would be fine" and claimed that the writing was on the wall.
He accepted that although he had been known for more than a decade about the serious problems, there was a power struggle for control of the place behind the scenes and the site continued to be neglected.
"Chains of interest", led to the families' opinion leading to the abandonment of the main thing: "Preserving the lives, safety and security of the participants. This led to a chain of shortcomings that ultimately led to the expected disaster which could and should have been prevented."
"Criminal and Serious Negligence"
In addition, a lawyer claimed that "this is an ongoing government failure over the years", due to the lack of investigation, detailed regulations and standards.
"The state has continued to mature and consciously ignored the dangerous situation prevailing in the country, while being indifferent to the dire consequences that can be caused by this conduct, to the point of deliberate closing of eyes that led to the tragic outcome and the occurrence of Mount Meron disaster.
The scene of the disaster in Meron, Photo: Gil Eliyahu-Gini
The families accuse the defendants in the civil lawsuit of deliberately ignoring the danger and negligence.
"All the defendants have severely violated the concrete duty of care imposed on them," they describe.
"The plaintiffs will claim that the disaster occurred due to criminal and serious negligence and / or carelessness and / or recklessness and / or carelessness," the lawsuit states, along with a number of other allegations of negligence regarding the revelry in a dangerous place and without sufficient inspection.
The defendants, they claim, "acted indifferently and frivolously while ignoring the dangers inherent in the site."
The list of negligence goes on for many pages and spreads the depth of the problems in the disaster.
In total, the families are demanding NIS 46 million in compensation, including for pecuniary damages, but also for the pain and suffering of the dead "which expresses the long suffering and moments of fear and terror that lasted a long time, his thoughts and knowledge while trampled - from suffocation and death, the dying process, Slow suffocation, lack of oxygen and groans of pain ", punitive damages and bereavement compensation.
"We are not faced with a case of classic negligence, there was full awareness here of the danger of a disaster occurring on Mount Meron and all involved chose to leave the situation intact while exposing the participants to real danger," the families accepted.
In total, the family members are demanding punitive damages in the amount of NIS 3 million and NIS 1 million in bereavement compensation for each of the deceased.
In addition, a number of families demanded additional compensation for damages, including members of Shraga Gesttner's family, who are demanding NIS 4.5 million in compensation for his lost income as a singer.
"We are not faced with a case of mere 'frivolity', and in our case not only is there indifference, gross negligence and criminal negligence, disregard for human life, indifference to the expected fatal outcome, but it is also malice and intent to ignore past disasters, disregard for mass events, disregard for regulation, legislation "Regulation, and ignoring the condition of the Mount Meron site and the nature of the revelry and the warning signs and the danger to lives until the actual disaster is caused - a disaster that could certainly have been prevented, and they were obliged to prevent," the lawyer concluded on behalf of the families.
"This is the time when the Honorable Court will speak and impose increased punitive damages especially to deter and to get the defendants to act to rectify the ongoing injustice and keep the citizens of the state safe and prevent the next disaster, because in the current situation the next disaster is not a question of if, but a question of when." .
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