Warnings foreshadowed deadly stampede in Israel Despite years of warnings that the site was unsafe for such large events, thousands of worshipers gathered at Mount Meron for a celebration that turned into a nightmare. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays after dozens were killed in a crush at a religious festival in Mount Meron on April 30, 2021, in Meron, Israel. - Amir Levy/Getty Images
April 30, 2021
It was shortly after midnight, the celebration at its frenzied peak. Tens of thousands of people were dancing ecstatically around bonfires to the sounds of a Klezmer band. The traditional festival on Mount Meron in the Galilee, at what is believed to be the burial site of the second century Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, was also marking an end to the lockdowns and social distancing that had prevented the ritual last year. All eyes were on the main event, the lighting of a huge bonfire by adherents of the ultra-Orthodox Toldot Aharon Hassidic sect. Suddenly, the
Public Security Minister Amir Ohana says many of the Meron stampede victims have yet to be identified.
“Unfortunately, many of the deceased have yet to be identified… and as a result, there are many families still unaware [of the fate of their relatives],” he says.
Ohana, whose office oversees the Israel Police, says officers are working to clear the roads around Mount Meron and enable those stranded at the pilgrimage site to head home. I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
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'I would like to declare Sunday as a day of national mourning. Let us all join in the grief of the families and pray for the wellbeing of the injured,' Netanyahu stated.
Josef Federman00:16, May 01 2021
A stampede at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel killed at least 45 people and injured about 150 early Friday, medical officials said. It was one of the country s deadliest civilian disasters. The stampede began when large numbers of people thronged a narrow tunnel-like passage during the event, according to witnesses and video footage. People began falling on top of each other near the end of the walkway, as they descended slippery metal stairs, witnesses said. Avraham Leibe told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that a crush of people trying to descend the mountain caused a “general bedlam” on a slippery metal slope followed by stairs. “Nobody managed to halt,” he said from a hospital bed. “I saw one after the other fall.”
This year, media estimated the crowd at about 100,000 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who briefly visited Mount Meron around midday Friday, said it was “one of the worst disasters that has befallen the state of Israel” and offered condolences to the families. He said Sunday would be a day of national mourning.
Netanyahu was jeered by dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters, who blamed the government and police for the tragedy.
Velvel Brevda, a rabbi who witnessed the stampede, accused police of putting up barriers that had prevented people from leaving through exits that were usually open in past years.
“Where should we leave from?” he said. “And the officers who were there couldn t care less.”