Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather at Meron site, violate wartime Lag B’Omer restrictions

A large crowd of ultra-Orthodox Jewish worshippers reportedly ignored Israeli wartime gathering restrictions on Monday and celebrated the Lag B’Omer holiday on Mount Meron in the Galilee region in northern Israel. Police denied reports that thousands of worshippers illegally reached the tomb site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd-century Jewish sage. 

“The entry of thousands of people into the Meron area has so far been prevented, and the arrival of hundreds of buses traveling in violation of the [Home Front Command] guidelines has been thwarted,” the Israel police said in an official statement, adding that hundreds of police officers were reportedly present and tasked to block the entry to individuals trying to reach the site. 

However, images posted online showed that worshippers were overturning fences that had been erected to limit the number of people gathering at the site. Images also showed worshippers gathering around a central bonfire lit at the site. A Kan public broadcaster shared footage online of an ultra-Orthodox family walking through private farmland and refusing to stop when confronted by a local resident. 

Israeli authorities officially canceled on Sunday the annual Lag B’Omer Meron celebration due to security concerns amid an ongoing military conflict with the Iranian-backed terrorist militia Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which launched an attack on Israel in early March, has been firing rockets and drones against primarily northern Israel.

Israeli security officials have warned that a Hezbollah rocket or drone could potentially cause mass casualties if it hit a mass gathering event. Israeli authorities consequently decided to officially cap outdoor public gatherings to 200 people and limit indoor events to 600 people. 

The police claimed that the media reports were “misleading the public” and stressed that only a “minority” of individuals had succeeded in violating the law enforcement restrictions at the site. The police statement was contradicted by a pilgrim who told the Ynet news outlet that “Anyone can come” to the religious site. 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who arrived at the site on Monday, praised the police officers in the area for being “gentle” when handling the masses of worshippers who tried to reach the restricted area.

“I think we should commend all the officers who are currently at all the checkpoints surrounding Meron, and they’re working very gently. I hope that it will continue this way,” Ben Gvir said in an official statement. 

In April 2021, some 45 worshippers were crushed to death, and hundreds were injured when around 100,000 religious Jews gathered at the Mount Meron site during the Lag B'Omer holiday. The tragedy ranks as one of the most lethal peacetime disasters in Israel’s modern history. 

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities allowed two religious mass bonfire events in Jerusalem on Monday despite official restrictions on mass gatherings and bonfire lighting events. The ceremonial lighting event for Rabbi Elimelech Biderman reportedly drew some 33,000 people, mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Israeli authorities likely hoped that the Jerusalem events would attract pilgrims who otherwise contemplated traveling to the Meron site in northern Israel. Due to its location further south, Jerusalem is considered a safer location amid the Hezbollah rocket threat than Meron and other northern sites.