In yet another sign Friday's deadly stampede could have been avoided, the State Comptroller's Office repeatedly warned of overcrowding and inadequate infrastructure at Mount Meron. In two comprehensive reports, the office focused on Lag B'Omer events, including access ways to and from the site, and the ability of emergency forces to enter the Galilee site of the tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
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In a 2008 report, then-State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss wrote that inadequate maintenance at the mount "does not suit the sanctity of the site." He explicitly mentioned the possibility of a mass-casualty event taking place on the mountain, and warned access paths "could not accommodate rescue services."
The comptroller further noted that "failures by the firefighting system and escape paths firefighting services have warned of for years and pose a threat to the public have not been fixed … Nevertheless, firefighting services provided temporary authorizations to hold the event on Lag B'Omer each year."
Regrettably, the report did nothing to change the reality on the ground.
In 2009, a government organization was tasked with responsibility for the site. Outside of slight maintenance improvements, however, nothing else was done. While preparations for the Lag B'Omer event have improved slightly, relevant authorities have not held anyone responsible for its organization or the organization of smaller events held on the mountain throughout the year.
In a follow-up report in 2011, the comptroller noted the government needed to consolidate its policies to either assist the Merom Hagalil Regional Council in the maintenance of Mount Meron or task the Interior Ministry with the job.
A matter of time
Israel Police officials have also pointed to failures they say they were alerted to in the past but were never addressed.
"The mishap at Meron is a mishap from the land of mishaps," active-duty and retired senior police officers told Israel Hayom.
By 2016, a police report compiled with the help of Transportation Ministry data determined some 223,000 people, "15 times the legal limit," had ascended the mountain over a span of two days. The report's authors noted "the area of the mountain does not suit the event. In a disaster, it will not be possible to take control, and the place will not be controllable in an emergency."
Commander Ilan Mor (ret.), formerly the head of the Israel Police's traffic division, warned of the dangers inherent in holding mass events at Meron at the time.
In a detailed report titled "Meron revelry: Erasing the writings on the mount," Mor wrote that lessons could be learned from previous tragedies such as the 2001 collapse of a floor at the Versailles wedding hall in Jerusalem and the crushing death of three youths at the Arad Festival in 1995.
He argued that if steps like designating a producer and limiting attendance at the next Mount Meron Lag B'Omer event weren't taken, the next tragedy was only a question of time.
"The crowd that comes to the mountain is ecstatic and includes [people of] all ages. In a disaster, it will be difficult to control, and we have seen that from other near-disasters where the audience was undisciplined."
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