The State Committee of Inquiry into the Meron disaster traveled to Mount Meron on Monday to tour the holy site where the tragedy of 45 men and boys being crushed to death occurred in April during the annual Lag Ba’Omer celebrations.
Committee chairwoman and former Supreme Court president Miriam Naor, together with fellow committee members former Bnei Brak mayor Mordechai Karelitz and former head of IDF planning Maj.-Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai, had requested to see the site itself in order to familiarize themselves with the area, specifically the pathways to the site and the state of the infrastructure.
During Monday’s tour, the three committee members stopped specifically at the Dov Pathway where the crush took place, and “Toldot Aharon plaza,” one of the major sites for the celebrations and bonfire lightings named for the hassidic group which uses it.
The committee members also toured the general Mount Meron site and the tomb of the mishnaic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to which hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel on Lag Ba’Omer for the anniversary of his death.
There are several different structures at the site having various forms of ownership and differing legal status.
Many of the buildings are either under the control of small charitable organizations or under legal dispute, a situation which has made renovating the pilgrimage site extremely difficult.
Much of the infrastructure for the celebrations on Mount Meron is also makeshift and was added incrementally without an overarching plan, meaning that it was wholly inadequate for the large number of visitors.
Along with the three committee members, several other officials attended Monday’s tour including deputy police commander of the northern district Micha Tubul; legal adviser to the National Center for the Development of the Holy Sites Erez Ben David; Deputy State Attorney Orit Kotev; director of the Meron Hagalil Regional Council Keren Petel; head of the Committee of Five which administers Meron Eli Friend; and deputy director of the Land Enforcement Agency Pablo Aspino.