Israel Sets Up State Commission To Investigate Mount Meron Stampede

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2021) The new Israeli government on Sunday voted to establish a state commission to investigate the deadly stampede at a religious festival on Mount Meron that took place in April, the defense and finance ministers said.

The first meeting of newly-elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's cabinet took place earlier on Sunday.

"This commission of inquiry is our moral duty to the Israeli society and families who have lost loved ones. We must make sure that a tragedy of this nature never recurs," Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a joint statement.

The commission is said to have a budget of 6 million shekels ($1.8 million).

A mass stampede took place during the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer on April 30, resulting in the deaths of 45 people. The celebration on Mount Meron was Israel's first mass event after lifting the COVID-19 restrictions, and drew up to 100,000 participants. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the tragedy one of the worst disasters in the country's history.