The Mount Meron disaster

A year since the Meron disaster: The Ministry of Justice is blocking a legal solution that will regulate state ownership of the mountain

The ministry was offered options through which the state could take responsibility for the compound, thus ensuring its security, as these did not involve legal difficulties and protest on the part of the religious public.

But documents that came to Walla!

Discover that the office insists on the expropriation of the mountain.

Ministry of Justice: "The possibilities are being examined by all parties"

Between Ashkenazi

18/05/2022

Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 8:30 p.m.

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In the video: The spokesman for the Ministry of Religions testifies before the committee to investigate the Mount Meron disaster (Photo: GPO)

A year after the Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed and 145 injured, tomorrow (Wednesday) the celebration will take place in the compound.

Over the past year, an attempt has been made by the state to bring order to Mount Meron, which is legally owned by a number of religious dedications and run by the "Committee of Five" that unites them.

However, these attempts were unsuccessful and on social media a picture emerges that the situation in Meron in terms of infrastructure and population capacity is still far from satisfactory.

Alongside all this, documents obtained by Walla!

It is found that the state had a relatively simple option to take over the management of the mountain compound to ensure its security, but the Ministry of Justice decided to block this possibility, and insists that the state expropriate the mountain area at its disposal.

Two options laid on the table of Deputy Attorney General Carmit Jules, gave the state the ability to manage Mount Meron and determine what would happen to it without having to expropriate the mountain areas from the various dedications - a complicated procedure the state has struggled to carry out since the disaster.

More on Walla!

The corridor of death and the stands were removed: a year after the disaster, the celebrants in Meron will find a different compound than they knew

To the full article

Preparations in Meron for the celebration, today (Photo: Flash 90, David Cohen)

The first option proposed to the Deputy Attorney General is that instead of expropriating the area on Mount Meron and turning it into a public area, the state will include a representative on its behalf into the dedications.

The most prominent supporter of this proposal is Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the authorized rabbi of the city of Safed, who opposes the expropriation on the grounds that the move will provoke a great protest due to its sanctity to many Jews.

The second option offered is that the state will apply to the rabbinical court to be appointed as a guardian who manages all the dedications on the mountain.

This option was supposed to save the state the litigation in the courts before the various trustees of the endowments and before the committee of five that opposes the expropriation, thus turning it into a belief in the management of the endowment assets and all that that entails.

Under this option, ownership will remain in the name of the endowment, but the state will immediately receive the management powers, and the need to conduct those lengthy and complex legal proceedings will be superfluous, and presumably public opposition will also be removed.

Documents reveal that the ministry is seeking to try to expropriate the land on the mountain in order to manage it through one of the government bodies, and for this reason they oppose the two options proposed.

But their opposition is puzzling, since in fact they could have expropriated the compound even before the disaster.

This opportunity occurred in January 2020, when the High Court ratified a compromise agreement signed between the state and one of the dedications claiming ownership of the mountain. According to this compromise agreement, a body called the "Committee of Five" was established, On the mountain by invaders. The High Court decision determined that if the agreement was violated, the state could expropriate the mountain area into its hands, which it did, but the state did not expropriate the compound anyway, probably because it is a complex legal process.

Preparations in Meron for the celebration, today (Photo: Flash 90, David Cohen)

In addition, yesterday the heirs of ten victims in the Meron disaster filed a lawsuit in the amount of NIS 40 million against the state.

The plaintiffs accuse the state of "lack of legislation, regulations, detailed standards, and worse also an exemption from approving business licensing for religious and national events."

It is also written that "this is an ongoing government failure over the years, for which there is to this day no clear determination as to which body is responsible for safety in these incidents, despite the disasters that befell the country, and despite the need for regulation has increased time and time again. "From the dangerous situation that prevails in the country, while it is indifferent to the dire consequences that can be caused by this conduct, to the point of deliberate closing of eyes, which led to the tragic result and the occurrence of the Mount Meron disaster. The next disaster is only a matter of time."

The indictment states that if the state had expropriated the mountain area as the settlement agreement in the High Court had allowed it, the terrible disaster might have been avoided.

Dov Bridge on which the Meron disaster occurred (Photo: Official website, Real Estate Enforcement Authority)

The Ministry of Justice stated that "these days, the various options are being examined by all the parties involved. Decisions will be made later, after the celebration event."

On behalf of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, it was stated that "the management of the Rashbi tomb and everything related to its affairs should be done in cooperation between the state and the owners of the dedicated place.

Need comprehensive thinking and great systemic conduct while investing appropriate resources to absorb hundreds of thousands who want to arrive safely without limiting them in a way that reduces prayer and joy.

Rashbi's

tomb

There is no intention to transfer the dedication to the state.

The proposal is for the cooperation of the state representative within the dedication, which will lead to more effective cooperation in the management of the place. "

The management of the rabbinical courts stated that "several months ago, the commissioner of dedications submitted a proposal for the layout of Meron sites to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. The goal is to formulate an agreed, effective and immediately applicable solution for site management.

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