JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Years of inaction on the high of the Israeli authorities led to the deaths of 45 individuals at an overcrowded spiritual pageant in 2021, and a fee of inquiry mentioned on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was straight concerned within the catastrophe. Announced.
The fee discovered that Netanyahu shared accountability for the lethal crash, the worst civilian catastrophe within the nation’s historical past, however didn’t advocate that Netanyahu take any motion.
“The writing was on the wall,” the three-person fee, which gathered testimony from about 213 individuals, mentioned in its report.
The tragedy comes as tens of 1000’s of ultra-Orthodox descend on the tomb of 2nd-century saint Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai within the Galilee for the annual Lag Bomer pageant, which incorporates all-night prayers, mystical songs and dances. It occurred when sectarian Jews flocked collectively.
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During the ceremony, among the crowd poured right into a slender tunnel, suffocating or crushing 45 individuals, together with kids.
But the fee’s findings say these deaths have been the results of a deeper, well-known drawback relationship again a few years. These embody sloppy administration of the location, which pulls giant crowds annually, security guidelines repeatedly ignored and essential adjustments not made.
“We obtained the impression that political strain was having a damaging influence on the decision-making course of relating to the administration of the location and its high quality, and was hampering makes an attempt to enhance the scenario,” the fee mentioned.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cupboard ministers, police chiefs and 18 different officers and spiritual leaders have been beforehand despatched warning letters warning that they may share accountability.
Regarding Netanyahu’s position, the report mentioned it was affordable to conclude that the veteran prime minister knew the location had been poorly maintained for a few years and posed a hazard.
“Even if Prime Minister Netanyahu had no actual data of the problem, as a precaution, he ought to have identified underneath the circumstances,” the newspaper mentioned.
The fee discovered that many of the 18 officers, together with Prime Minister Netanyahu, bore some private accountability for the mishandling of the venue that led to the pageant catastrophe, and really useful disciplinary motion towards some officers. did.
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