British victim of Israel stampede: 24-year-old man from Manchester is named among the 45 people killed in crush amid claims Orthodox Jewish leaders put pressure on organisers NOT to limit numbers at festival
Insiders claimed there was political pressure on police to hold the event at any cost ahead of deadly crush
Reports say the head of Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, asked there to be no limit of numbers
A total of 45 people were killed in the stampede at Mount Meron, Israel on Thursday, with at least 150 injured
Moshe Bergman, from Manchester,
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Haaretz reports that a senior civil engineer working on behalf of the Religious Affairs Ministry approved yesterday night’s event after touring the site, including the narrow corridor where the disaster occurred.
He will likely be questioned as the investigation into the incident moves forward. Greetings from the Vaccination Nation
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Bodybags at the scene of the Mount Meron disaster, April 30, 2021 (Screenshot)
However, neither of these two probes has the authority to investigate relevant ministers, including the ministers of public security, interior and religious affairs, and the prime minister himself, all of whom were involved in various meetings relating to preparations for the event.
Both national Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and Northern Command chief Shimon Lavi are set to be called to give testimony to the PIID probe.
Israael police Northern Command chief Shimon Lavi, at Mt Meron, on April 30, 2021. (YouTube screenshot)
Lavi said soon after the disaster that he bore “overall responsibility” for the event and thus for its consequences. A Channel 13 report said, however, that he does not intend to resign.
Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis during a briefing in January 2021. (video screenshot)
The senior health official said the regulations are aimed at preventing the import of new strains of the virus into the country amid fears the variants could prove resistant to the vaccines.
Alroy-Preis specifically cautioned that when the Ramadan holiday is over, many Arab Israelis are expected to seek to travel to Turkey, one of the countries flagged by the ministry as high risk.
“We don’t know about the Indian variant, we don’t know enough,” she said of the strain of the disease ravaging India. Asked about indications the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are effective against the Indian strain, she said: “I didn’t see any research on this.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews seen during a ceremony at the Mount Meron holy site near Safed, April 27, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews at Meron ahead of the Jewish holiday of Lag b Omer, April 28, 2021 (David Cohen/FLASH90)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boy gets his first haircut at Meron ahead of the Jewish holiday of Lag b Omer, April 28, 2021 (David Cohen/FLASH90)
Preparations for the upcoming Lag B Omer celebrations at Mount Meron on April 27, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)
Some 5,000 police officers were to be deployed at Mount Meron on Thursday to oversee annual Lag B’Omer celebrations at the holy site where attendance has been cut back from the usual hundreds of thousands of revelers from all over the country.