Netanyahu denies responsibility for last year’s stampede on Mount Meron that left 45 dead

July 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The former prime minister of Israel and current leader of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, testified this Thursday before the commission investigating the Mount Meron disaster, where last year 45 people lost their lives and more than 150 were injured due to a stampede.

The incident, which occurred during the month of April 2021, occurred within the framework of the Lag Baomer holiday and represents the worst tragedy that has occurred in Israel in times of peace.

A series of reports suggest that Netanyahu, then head of government, allowed the celebration without attendance limits and disregarding security recommendations as he was under pressure from the rest of his ultra-Orthodox political allies.

Now questioned about his role in that episode, Netanyahu has defended being responsible for what he could control, such as the evolution of the pandemic, and not for what he had no knowledge of.

“I take responsibility for what was in front of me, and that was the epidemiological disaster, and I avoided that. In hindsight, there was a catastrophe. I cannot take responsibility for what I did not know,” the former Israeli prime minister said, according to ‘The Times of Israel’.

Along these lines, Netanyahu has assured that “he did not know that there was a critical security problem” regarding the event, and has recalled that throughout his twelve-year mandate, hundreds of thousands of faithful have historically gathered on the mountain to celebrate Lag Baomer without incident.

“We are all experts in hindsight. If I could go back today, I would act differently,” lamented Netanyahu, who wondered “what happened that year that did not happen in previous years” to have applied extraordinary security measures.

However, former judge Dvora Berliner has urged the former prime minister to explain why during his long tenure he never entered into security matters despite the fact that Lag Baomer celebrations have historically been a massive event.

“The issue was dealt with in accordance with the recommendations of the state comptroller’s office. I dealt with it, I made decisions that were supposed to address the various problems of the mountain,” he responded, defending that “the only governments” that acted in this regard, They were the ones led by him.

Finally, Netanyahu has asserted that the supervision of the event was the responsibility of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and not of the Prime Minister’s Office, at the same time that he has ruled out having allowed the celebration due to political pressure.

“I did not act due to the pressure that the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) wanted it to open (…) It was not due to pressure, it was on instructions from the Ministry of Health,” the former prime minister of Israel has settled.