Lag Ba’omer holiday celebrations at Mount Meron will only occur with symbolic participation levels next Tuesday, according to the government and the IDF Home Front Command, amid security concerns and guidelines that limit the number of people who can gather in towns nearby.
News guidelines were announced on Sunday night that only up to 1,500 people would be permitted to gather in the communities in the vicinity of Mount Meron, including Kfar Hoshen, Or Haganuz, Bar Yochai, and Meron.
In a missive, cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs explained that the Lag Ba’omer commemoration at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai would only be “symbolic” this year, and guidelines likely would not change by the time of the pilgrimage.
“The context of the directive is the fear of a mass casualty event amid the fragility of the ceasefire toward Lebanon, proximity to the Lebanon border, rocket launches to the area, and difficulty of broad evacuation at relevant speeds,” wrote Fuchs.
Concerns about a mass casualty event come five years after the 2021 Mount Meron crowd crush that claimed the lives of 45 people. The disaster unfolded when a large crowd sought to attend a bonfire lighting and attempted to funnel into a narrow and steep stairway that was slick with spilled drinks.
When some people fell, the crowd behind them continued on the path, resulting in extreme pressure and suffocation of the victims.
Netanyahu, police commanders blamed for disaster
The Mount Meron Disaster Commission’s final report in 2024 assigned personal responsibility to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Police commanders, and local officials for failing to prevent the disaster.
The report detailed how negligence, lack of preparation, absent governance, no enforcement of construction law, and conflict over responsibilities, authority, and territory responsibility by politicians, civil servants, and law enforcement led to dangerous overcrowding and hazardous and illegal facility conditions, year after year, during the pilgrimage.
While the potential for disaster was known by the involved authorities, who feared such an event, they did not seize the opportunity to improve conditions, the commission said.