Police chief reveals anguish over stampede deaths as probe starts
THE POLICE chief in charge at Mount Meron when 45 people died in a stampede earlier this year has told an inquiry “not a night goes by” in which he doesn’t think of how the tragedy could have been prevented.
The terrible events at the Lag B’Omer festival in April constituted the worst civilian disaster in Israel’s history.
As the official inquiry got under way on Sunday, Northern District Commander Shimon Lavi said: “Not a night goes by in which my mind doesn’t race with thoughts of what I could have done differently.
“Meron was neglected for years.” He was speaking as the first witness to address the three-member panel of the inquiry, which will look into the events of April 30.
Many thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had gathered together as is customary every year for the festival of Lag B’Omer at the ancient tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron.
But with crowds tightly packed for what should have been a joyous occasion of prayer and song, tragedy occurred as people suddenly surged forward into a narrow tunnel.
Amid the chaos, 45 male worshippers aged from 13 to 65 years old were asphyxiated or trampled to death. Among the victims was Moshe Bergman from Manchester.
He had been married for 18 months and was studying to be a rabbi. Mr Bergman’s family described him as “a wonderful and dedicated husband, son and brother”.
Approximately 150 more people were injured. There had long been warnings over the dangers of the Mount Meron, where in some years hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jewish men had gathered.
Numbers were lower this year – with estimates of between 50,000 and 100,000 in total – but still far beyond the limits under the restrictions that had been introduced to prevent coronavirus infections.
Some political observers had suggested that the government of thenprime minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have succumbed to pressure from ultra-Orthodox figures to refrain from putting a tighter limit on the numbers permitted to assemble.
Although following the disaster, Mr Netanyahu had said that there would be an official investigation, the conflict with Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza that broke out soon afterwards led to it being postponed.
A state commission of inquiry was created shortly after the new government replacing that of Mr Netanyahu came into office.
The panel is led by a former chief of the Supreme Court and has legal powers to compel witnesses to appear and require documents to be produced.
Its conclusions will not be legally binding, but will be passed on as recommendations to the government.
The attorney general will be notified of any suspicions of criminal conduct.
Every night I think of what I could have done differently