Upon consultation with its rabbinic leadership, Agudath Israel released the following statement about the tragic events in Meron.
מה נאמר ומה נדבר.
There are no words to describe the terrible tragedy of what happened in Meron on the holy day of Lag B’omer.
All of Klal Yisroel is numb with shock. So many deaths, so many injuries, so many broken hearts. The pain is unbearable.
At this time, when we are united as one through our grief and tears, let us all rededicate ourselves to the foundation principle of Ahavas Yisroel, love of our fellow Jew. כלנו בני איש אחד נחנו — we are all brothers, beloved children of Hashem. We must be נוהג כבוד זה לזה, treat one another with honor and respect and love.
Let us, on this holy day, pour our hearts out to the רופא לשבורי לב, the great Healer of Broken Hearts. May He bring comfort to the bereaved, healing to the injured, and mercy to the entire Jewish People.
{Matzav.com}
Empty words. This is the equivalent of a politician saying, “our thoughts and prayers are with the victims” after the umpteenth school shooting. The Israeli police brutally attack the Torah world for decades, our brothers and sisters. Americans think their davening and charity is enough. It is not. Al Titzak Alei is Hashem’s response…The American Torah world needs to put max pressure on the Israeli government to reform the police. Pressure is the only thing that invokes an Israeli response.
The reform that virtually everyone, from the police to the chariedi press to askanim, is suggesting needs to happen in light of this event is that the appropriate authorities be allowed to to exercise their authority and to enact crowd control measures based on their expertise on this matter. This has been impossible till now because of the many chasdidusin who insisted, with help from askanim, that the authority over the Lag Ba’omer celebrations is exclusively theirs’s. And so for years they refused to allow the authorities to “interfere”.
The appropriate authorities based on their expertise on this matter is certainly not the police who just want to show they’re control, but the askanim. (Just like in MetLif for the Siyum Hashas.) Askanim and families who’ve lost loved ones are already preparing court-cases with videos against the police who are to be blamed for this devastating tragedy. Not only did the police block the exit, they refused the hatzalah’s assistance by blocking their cars. Hatzalah had no choice but to continue driving, unfortunately hurting some police who were blocking their way. Did you hear the police screaming in pain?
Blaming. Nice touch. Listen to the eyewitness testimony from victims and watch the videos of what happened on Mt Meron. The police teargassed the crowd beforehand. They were negligent in blocking the only exit. Stood pat when hundreds of people begged them to be released. Many are calling them outright murderers; why you would heed their advice is beyond me. The outlets that are blaming the victims are chiloni. Not Torahdika people.