The state investigation committee investigating the 'Meron disaster', headed by retired judge Miriam Naor, convened today (Monday) for the second day of testimony.
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After the commander of the Northern District of the police, Chief Shimon Lavie, testified yesterday, today Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, chairman of the 'Committee of Five' and rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places, testified. After him, retired Chief Alon Asur, who was the commander of the Northern District of the police from 2016-2019, will testify.
In his opening remarks, he said: "I welcome the inspection, it's a shame that it came in the wake of a disaster. Anyone who sees what was there before 2008 won't believe it. The situation there was terrible - there was no sewage infrastructure, there was nothing, illegal construction. There is an untarred roof, crumbling flares, electrical cables everywhere, on every floor we tried to move there was an unusual war. I decided that we must not surrender because the place is very dangerous. Over the course of three years, a change has been made there. What you saw on your tour now is gold compared to what was there in 2008. Back then, any child could touch an electrical cable and get electrocuted.".
He claimed that in his role as rabbi of the holy places, he did not have access to the tomb in Meron. "The supervisor previously had access to the structure around the tomb. That is, he had the responsibility to keep beggars away, observe the Sabbath and take care of the place. At the beginning of my role, I tried to exercise my authority, and then they explained to me: 'That was then and this is now. You have no authority.'""
Rabbi Rabinowitz said that the "Committee of Five" was not involved in the Lag BaOmer events, and that it was determined that those responsible for the event were the "National Center for Holy Places" and the police. According to him, the issue was emphasized dozens of times and this was also his worldview. He claimed that this was also agreed upon with the Deputy Attorney General.
""A government decision made it clear that the Lag BaOmer event is ten times larger than the management capacity of the dedications and the 'Committee of Five', and therefore it was decided in a government decision that the 'National Center for Holy Places', together with the police, will manage the event.".
The chairman of the committee asked what he thought about the question of expropriating the Zion Rashbi compound.
Rabbi Rabinowitz replied that it was a difficult and complex question and that it would be easier for him to answer it in writing. Naor refused - and he replied: "There are sides here and there. It is clear that one body is needed to handle everything, but at the same time it is not certain that the state has the power to take action.".
Committee member Shlomo Yanai responded: "You can't say at the Western Wall, 'I know how to do it' and in Meron, 'I'm giving up.' If you think you can't - you should return the mandate. You should have intervened, the disaster happened because too many bodies didn't intervene." .
Rabbi Rabinowitz said in his testimony that he did not know there was a problem in the area of the stairs in the lighting area, where the participants in the revelry were crushed. "Nobody told us. We also brought our safety engineers who did not say there was a problem. I did not receive a warning about this from a consultant or a safety engineer.".
The chairwoman of the investigative committee announced: "We will invite all members of the Committee of Five for investigation.".
