Israel’s Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said at a government hearing on last year’s Meron tragedy that his position makes him responsible for anything that occurs under his command, but that he isn’t guilty for what happened in Meron.

“I am responsible for anything that happens in the police. The question is if responsibility equals guilt,” he said.

Rather than accepting the blame, Shabtai told the government panel that the local commander overseeing Meron on that fateful day would have had a better grasp than he did on what exactly was happening at the site, and also shifted blame to engineering failures and government Covid-19 policies.

“The police chief is not going to go and check every bridge, every crossing and every path. Can I set a level of slipperiness? Incline?” he said.

“In my opinion, the lack of ability of government ministries to come to an agreement on coronavirus rules was reflected in the difficulties that accompanies the Meron disaster – the lack of will or ability of the political leadership to deal with the event and the site itself,” he claimed.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)