Meron disaster: Day of mourning * 45 victims named, most buried * Nobody was ever truly in charge * Podcast: Anatomy of tragedy * In 1911, my great-grandfather died there

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Sunday, May 2, 2021 Full list of victims [A Hasidic singer, a dozen boys and teens, a father of 11: All 45 Meron victims]( By [TOI staff]( [Among those who died in the tragedy were 2 sets of brothers, children as young as 9, and visitors from abroad including 6 US citizens; identification complete after 2 days]( [Israel holds day of mourning for 45 victims of deadly Meron crush]( By [TOI staff]( [‘My child is gone. Why?’ Meron crush victims buried; all 45 bodies identified]( By [TOI staff]( [Meron disaster site revealed as a place where nobody was ever really in charge]( By [TOI staff]( [Caught in tug of war between authorities, religious sects and interest groups, Israel’s 2nd most-visited Jewish holy place has no full, official state oversight]( Times of Israel Podcast [Daily Briefing May 2 – Anatomy of a disaster: What happened at Mount Meron?]( By [TOI staff]( [Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today]( [Former police chiefs call for state commission of inquiry into Meron disaster]( By [Stuart Winer and TOI staff]( [In letter to PM, ex-commanders say independent investigation needed to prevent future calamities; one says festivities should be halted for 4-5 years until proper safety in place]( [Police minister: I’m responsible for Meron, but that ‘doesn’t mean blame’]( By [TOI staff]( [Protesters outside Netanyahu’s residence urge state inquiry into Meron crush]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( Live updates [LIVE: Manager of Meron shul: Stop bonfire lightings, they’re only to make money]( By [TOI staff]( [Haim Ben-Shimon says more and more Hasidic leaders have jumped on bandwagon of celebrations. ‘It’s not out of piety. Anyone who wants to light a candle can do so at home’]( Analysis [Lazar Berman]( [Zarif may well have leaked explosive tapes ahead of presidential run]( [Iran’s FM is facing intense criticism for comments about the IRGC and Soleimani, but analysts say it’s the ideal way to get his message to the public]( Top Ops [Ysoscher Katz]( [At Mt. Meron their dancing turned into mourning]( [Like so many other righteous souls seeking healing and relief, my late father went every Lag B’Omer for 12 years following his cancer diagnosis]( [Catriella Freedman]( [110 years before this tragedy, my great-grandfather died at Mt. Meron]( [Just as his death at a 1911 Lag B’Omer disaster changed the course of my own history, the families mourning today will never be the same]( [Ron Kronish]( [It is time for Israel to vaccinate the Palestinians]( [With no good argument against doing it, the state must recognize its obligation as an occupying power and follow international law on this matter]( [Julio E. Lopez]( [Dark web of hate targets us all, even a non-Jewish journalist like me]( [A secret network of racist Argentinian groups incite deadly violence against Jews and others as tech giants sit back and let it happen on their platforms]( [CRM]( [110 years ago, 100 people fell from a balcony at Mt. Meron; 11 were killed]( By [TOI staff]( [Disaster in 1911 underlines the perennial safety concerns, and failures, at the holy site where 45 ultra-Orthodox pilgrims were fatally crushed on Thursday night]( [After Mt. Meron disaster, police limit ‘Holy Fire’ Easter ceremony in Jerusalem]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [Pope sends prayers for victims of Meron tragedy]( By [TOI staff]( [IDF: Female soldiers were attacked by Haredim when assisting at Meron disaster]( By [TOI staff]( [Military says Home Front Command Search and Rescue forces ‘continued on their mission’ after being accosted while searching for bodies and injured victims after deadly crush]( [MDA asks for more blood after 2,208 Israelis donate on Friday]( By [TOI staff]( [A dozen boys and teens under 18 among Meron dead; youngest victim was 9]( By [TOI staff and AP]( [Huge blaze reported at Iranian chemical factory near Qom; cause unclear]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Fire injures at least 2; incident comes amid escalating tensions with Israel, which Tehran blamed for a blast at Natanz nuclear plant last month]( [Biden ‘drops by’ national security adviser’s White House meet with Mossad chief]( By [Jacob Magid and TOI staff]( [Russia claims progress at Iran nuclear talks, hopes for results in 3 weeks]( By [Agencies and TOI staff]( [Fighter jets said to escort El Al plane over Greece after false bomb warning]( By [TOI staff]( [Passengers kept unaware of threat; caller claimed to US authorities there were explosives on aircraft en route from New York to Tel Aviv]( [Fire breaks out in field near Ben Gurion Airport]( By [TOI staff]( [IDF says no active COVID cases among soldiers, in first since start of outbreak]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [Military declares itself coronavirus-free as Health Ministry records only 13 daily cases nationwide, the lowest in nearly a year]( [India expands faltering vaccine drive as over 400,000 infections recorded in day]( By [Bhuvan Bagga and Glenda Kwek]( Times Will Tell [Podcast: An Israeli author asks a Palestinian scholar, Won’t you be my neighbor?]( By [TOI staff]( [Agreeing to disagree is a lost art in the Middle East. Yossi Klein Halevi and Mohammed Dajani show us how it’s done]( [Palestinian woman tries to stab soldiers in West Bank, is shot — IDF]( By [TOI staff]( [Fahima al-Hroub, 60, taken to Jerusalem hospital in critical condition after approaching security forces at Gush Etzion Junction with a knife, failing to heed warnings]( [Israeli security guard filmed beating Palestinian man in East Jerusalem]( By [Nurit Chinn]( [Israeli investors can now trade on Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel Securities Authority gives green light to Israeli market players to become members of the exchange and deal in precious metals, energy, equities and currencies]( [US investment manager BlackRock says it holds 3% stake in Bank Hapoalim]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel-US fund seeking proposals for clean-energy joint research]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [97-year-old British-Israeli earns Guinness record for world’s oldest journalist]( By [Sam Sokol]( [CRM]( [From Gaza to Mars: Palestinian engineer behind helicopter flight on red planet]( By [Agencies]( [But Loay Elbasyouni, who grew up in Beit Hanoun before moving to US, says Israeli and Egyptian travel restrictions make visiting his hometown an even bigger challenge]( More Headlines [Gantz rules out coalition with Netanyahu, says he’s committed to replacing him]( By [TOI staff]( [Boston Jewish council votes to keep ZOA despite it ‘elevating white supremacism’]( By [Asaf Shalev]( [US police arrest man suspected of hate crimes against several Bronx synagogues]( By [Ben Sales]( [Moscow Jewish community center torched; German synagogue hit with rubber bullets]( By [JTA]( [Woman found dead in Haifa apartment; husband and son arrested]( By [TOI staff]( [Esmé Bianco accuses Marilyn Manson of sexual abuse, threats with ‘Nazi knife’]( By [AP and TOI staff]( [‘A big blunder’: North Korea warns US of response to Biden’s ‘hostile policy’]( By [Hyung-Jin Kim]( [US probing more ‘Havana syndrome’ attacks, including one outside White House]( By [AFP]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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