Page 2 - Simcha Diskind News Today

0 shares Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene of the fatal crush during Lag BOmer celebrations on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90) Following a heated debate, a key Knesset panel on Monday approved the fast-tracking of an opposition-pushed bill to form an official commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster, in which 45 ultra-Orthodox worshipers were crushed to death during a religious festival last month. No arrests have been made since the...

0 shares Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene after a mass fatality scene during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag Baomer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel on April 30, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90) Police on Monday detained for questioning two engineers who were involved in approving arrangements at a religious festival last month where 45 people were crushed to death in an overcrowded walkway. Investigators from the Lahav 433 national crime unit brought in the safety e...

0 shares Northern District Commander Shimon Lavi (R) and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai (R) at Mount Meron ahead of the tragedy, April 29, 2021 (Israel Police) Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai has asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit for either a state commission of inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster or some other form of official investigation of the incident last week, during which dozens of people were crushed to death, the Kan public broadcaster reported Wednesday. Th...

16 shares Security officials and rescuers at the scene of a fatal crush during Lag BOmer celebrations at Mt. Meron in northern Israel, Friday, April 30, 2021. (AP Photo) A police assessment ahead of this year’s Lag B’Omer festivities on Mount Meron warned of the dangers of overcrowding at access points as well as the possibility of structures collapsing, and specifically cited dangers surrounding the exit route where 45 people lost their lives in a crush overnight Thursday-Friday, a T...

The ceremony was also live-streamed to allow friends and family overseas to participate. Donny Morris, 19, of New Jersey, one of 45 people killed in the crush on Mount Meron during Lag B’Omer celebrations. (Courtesy) Almost 70,000 people watched online. “I have so many questions but little to no answers,” sobbed his mother Mirlana Morris, calling his death “a pain more than a mother can bear.” “But what I do know for sure is that you were loved by so many,” she said. “We all alw...

0 shares The shock of Friday’s catastrophe at Mount Meron is still raw. The graves of the victims, including the children killed in the crush, are still fresh. Yet the debate over what it all means for the country and for Haredi society has only begun. A few overpowering facts, not least that nearly all the victims were Haredi, are driving an unusual new introspection, and leading the major media outlets of the community to turn against one of its characteristic traits: its longstanding...

Moshe Natan Neta Englander, 14, and Yehoshua Englander, 9, were from Jerusalem. (courtesy) At least a dozen children and teens younger than 18 were among 45 people killed in a stampede at a Lag B’Omer festival in northern Israel, according to a partial list of names published Saturday as the identification of victims in Israel’s deadliest civilian disaster continued. Four Americans, a Canadian and a man from Argentina were also among those killed. Two families each lost two children. The yo...

5 shares Ultra-Orthodox Jews light candles for the 45 victims who were killed in a stampede, at the scene of the fatal disaster, at Mt Meron. May 01, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90) Israel on Sunday marked a national day of mourning over the Mount Meron stampede that killed 45 people, including over a dozen children and teenagers, in the country’s deadliest-ever civilian disaster. Flags were lowered to half-staff and ceremonies were expected at the Knesset and army bases. A cabinet meeting ...

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau March 29, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) “The site needs to be handled differently. What is happening at the moment does not respect the place or human life. The state is obligated to take responsibility for it,” he said. The chief rabbi also suggested spreading out the Lag B’Omer festivities to avoid overcrowding in the future. “It could be that the events need to be divided over a whole week,” Lau told the Kan public broadcaster. He suggeste...

Israel remembers festival dead: Day of mourning is held for 45 people crushed to death in stampede after British man, 24, was named amongst victims Flags were lowered at half-mast across Israel on Sunday to mourn victims of the stampede on Thursday night Brit Moshe Bergman, 24, from Manchester, was formally identified as amongst the victims on Saturday  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 Ha...