Meron Failure Revealed: Police Recordings Warned Of ‘Impending Catastrophe’ Before Disaster

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In newly released recordings of police discussions which occurred during the hour prior to the Meron disaster in 2021, police can be heard warning their superiors of an impending catastrophe.

Israel’s Kan news revealed the jarring recordings from the half hour preceding the tragic disaster in which 45 people were trampled to death. Reporter Moshe Steinmetz says that the recording demonstrates that the Meron tragedy was not only the result of poor infrastructure and overcrowding, but was also a huge tactical failure on the part of police senior officials, who were warned by their subordinates that the situation was dangerous and they needed more backup forces but did not provide the necessary reinforcements to close the deadly bottleneck at the Dov bridge.

At 12:14 police officers at the bridge said that “its getting very crowded here, there are huge gatherings, people are jostling, come here now.” A similar warning was issued at 12:22, more than 20 minutes before the catastrophe. The warnings became more urgent as the catastrophe grew closer, and the local police headquarters queried what was going on. The police answered that they needed urgent backup, asking: Where are the sleeping officers?” Police further up at the Kohanim porch also noticed the unusual crush and asked for backup to close the porch and stop the masses from exiting the area.

One of the senior officers attempted to calm the juniors, stating “its because of the Hadlakah [Toldos Aharon] it will take at least another half an hour.” The police at the Kohanim porch succeeded belatedly in stopping people from descending but it was too late for the masses near the Dov bridge, who were already being crushed as they attempted to descend. The senior officers were still asking why reinforcements were needed while the juniors said that the entrances needed to be closed because “people are trampling one another.”

חשיפה | "איפה כל הקצינים שישנים על האף?": הקלטה מטלטלת מגלה לראשונה את המחדל באסון מירון. הפרסום של @moyshis ב-#חדשותהערב

הפרטים המלאים >>> https://t.co/Hk29kuZ2va pic.twitter.com/wwpYhorOsQ

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 5, 2022

Steinmetz concluded that “if the senior officers had been more attentive to the warnings coming from the area, Israel’s greatest civilian tragedy could have been prevented.”