The National Center for the Holy Sites which was in charge of the Lag b'Omer festivities last year when tragedy struck and left 45 people dead, has been awarded the contract to organize the coming year's Lag b'Omer events in Meron, without going through the customary process of issuing a tender and deciding whom to award the project.
The decision was made following a request submitted by the Religious Affairs Ministry, headed by Matan Kahana, which explained the choice as motivated by reasons of economy and efficiency.
Yisrael Diskind, brother of Simcha Bunim who was killed last Lag b'Omer in Meron, called the decision "spitting in the face of the families of those killed. This is a corrupt decision and absolutely ridiculous - this is not the way to go about preventing the next disaster."