It was described, at the time, as “one of the most serious disasters” in the country's history by the Prime Minister.
A commission of inquiry concluded, this Wednesday, that Benyamin Netanyahu was “responsible” for a deadly stampede which took place in Israel in April 2021, during a Jewish pilgrimage.
“We came to the conclusion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has personal responsibility” in this tragedy, indicates this report, because he “knew or should have known that the site (…) had been poorly maintained for years” and could represent “a risk for the many participants” in the pilgrimage marking the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer.
Benyamin Netanyahu has, with his services, the responsibility to “proactively identify” problems representing “a risk for human lives”, and has “not acted as one would expect of a Prime Minister to correct this state of affairs,” said the commission of inquiry.
45 dead, including children
The drama unfolded during the pilgrimage to Mount Meron, in the north of Hebrew territory.
Tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews were gathered for the occasion, when a large crowd began to leave the premises after midnight, alongside a bonfire.
But the exit required passing through a narrow metal corridor, which created a bottleneck and caused a movement of crowds.
45 people were killed.
Among them were around fifteen young people, including a 9-year-old child.
It was quickly established that the maximum tonnage had been exceeded.
The authorities had allowed the presence of 10,000 people, but at least 30,000 faithful had gone to the pilgrimage site.
The police commander of the northern region, Shimon Lavi, quickly told the press that he “takes responsibility” for the disaster.
Responsible for supervising the operation of public institutions, the state comptroller's office had twice, in 2008 and 2011, warned of deficiencies in the site's equipment at Mount Meron.