Direct: The Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Meron Disaster (Photo: GPO)
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai came again on Sunday to testify before the commission of inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster, in which 45 participants perished in the revelry at the compound, and claimed that the plan he approved was not dangerous. "If I had known the plan was dangerous, I wouldn't have approved it," he said. "Factually, based on the past, the mountain could accommodate the number of immigrants and I believe that the mountain can accommodate such a number of visitors." Later in the day, Amir Ohana, who was Public Security Minister at the time of the disaster, is also expected to testify.
According to Shabtai, he was not presented with an alternative plan to the one that was implemented. "There wasn't a single person who said that the program was inappropriate, in my view the program provided a solution to all scenarios and improvements were made to it," he explained. "The police do not have the authority to restrict the crowd, the authority belongs to the political echelon. We analyzed all the program approvals from the previous decade and the audience limit plan was never on the agenda."
Shabtai in front of the Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster (Photo: Screenshot, GPO)
"I expressed a firm position all along, I insisted that checking the Green Pass at the entrance to the Mount would constitute a safety risk and bottlenecks. I warned that if we have to enforce the coronavirus regulations, there could be a disaster and a commission of inquiry would be established," Shabtai continued. "The program worked and was even improved, I improved it. This year, too, with the successful event that was, we worked with the same method of regulation – when there was congestion at the lighting center of the Boyan storks, we slowed down traffic to the mountain and at the entrances."
Shabtai added: "I am a proponent of technology but in the end there is no substitute for commanders in the field, we counted crowds using cameras but they collapsed during the event. Today we are in a different place, the interim recommendations of the committee and taking responsibility by appointing a minister and a projector have improved the situation, such as the increased budgets and the evacuation of illegal structures on the Mount."
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The morning after the disaster on the mountain. April 2021 (Photo: Flash 90, David Cohen)
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About a year ago, Northern District Commander Lt. Gen. Shimon Lavi informed the police commissioner of his intention to retire from police service. In his resignation letter, Lavi referred to the Meron disaster, writing: "Immediately after the disaster, I said that I, as the incident commander, bear responsibility. My intention was and is real responsibility, without wisdom and without sophistication. I never hid behind anyone, not even behind my partners in responsibility."
The Mount Meron disaster, which is the heaviest civilian disaster in the history of the state, took place during the celebrations of the Revelation of the Rashbi on the night of Lag B'Omer, on the night of April 30-29, 2021. Forty-five men and children died and more than 45 people were injured. This was due to a partition and suffocation caused by severe overcrowding at one of the crossings in the compound.
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- Kobi Shabtai
- Amir Ohana
- Mount Meron disaster
