Israel's A-G suspends Mount Meron tragedy investigation

Mandelblit made his decision after consulting with the state attorney, the head of Investigations and Intelligence Department of the Israel Police, and the head of the Department for Police Investigations of the State Attorney’s Office. 

Following the disaster in which 45 men and boys were crushed to death at the Meron holy site in April, the police and the Department for Police Investigations initiated criminal investigations but did not get beyond preliminary steps, Mandelblit said on Monday.

Given that the Meron state committee of inquiry has now begun operations, the attorney-general said that it was now appropriate to suspend other investigations and give the state inquiry’s work preference. 

And following a meeting of the new state committee of inquiry on Monday with Mandelblit, the committee said that all documentation from the two investigations should be transferred to it, while testimony given to those investigations may also be transferred in due course.

The committee also announced that it would be publishing advertisements in four newspapers, including three daily ultra-Orthodox newspapers calling for anyone interested in giving evidence about the disaster to make contact with the panel. 

In addition, the advertisements will also call on anyone who previously issued warnings of any sort to make themselves known to the committee. 

The committee added that all the major government bodies and authorities involved in running Meron had been asked to submit all relevant documentation regarding their preparations and instructions for the Meron Lag Ba’omer pilgrimage this year, and any permits they issued for the event. 

These bodies include the Israel Police, the so-called “Committee of Five” that manages the site, the Meron Hagalil Regional Council, the Public Security Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Religious Services Ministry. 

And the committee also requested that the Land Enforcement Authority of the Finance Ministry provide it with diagrams of all the structures at the site, including temporary structures which were in place at the pilgrimage this year. 

The committee asked that the legal status of all the structures be detailed, including those under dispute, whether or not each building was legally constructed or not, and what legal proceedings 

are underway against such structures. 

The Land Enforcement Authority was also asked to provide footage of the walkway from Toldot Aharon plaza to the exact site of the disaster where the crush took place. 

The infrastructure at Meron is old, makeshift and not appropriate for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit the site every Lag Ba’omer. 

In addition, much of the ownership of the different buildings at the site is under the control of small charitable organizations, or in dispute, a situation which has made renovating the pilgrimage site extremely difficult.