Yitzchak Deri, 24, is an avreich from Bnei Brak who survived the Meron disaster but sadly lost his good friend and former yeshivah roommate. In an interview on Radio 103FM on Sunday, Deri said: “First of all I want to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu that I’m here and not with my former roommate in yeshivah who is now in Shamayim – my friend Chaim Ozer Seler, z’l, a father of a two-week-old girl. Anyone who witnessed his almanah parting from her husband yesterday will never be able to forget the sight.” “I was with him at Meron – my friend from yeshivah. We learned together, we were roommates.” Deri explained what he experienced at Meron: “I was next to this wall of death [a metal barrier placed at the exit by the police] – to which there’s no explanation or inkling of why it was put there. I went back, I fought against the swarm of people and I managed to get out.” “I have witnesses to this – I cried to the police officer and told him: ‘Take this out – this wall of death – we’re dying.’ I told him that I almost fainted. I said: ‘There’s going to be dozens of people dying and I’ll testify against you in court.’ And this was ten minutes before the tragedy occurred.” Deri explained that even before the tragedy occurred, the crowding was so severe that it was life-threatening and that’s what he was warning the police about: “[I was warning the police] due the crowding and pressure. What happened was that the Toldos Aharon hadlaka took place suddenly. And it’s not clear who gave an order to close off the entrance – they left only a narrow exit. The [Toldos Aharon] hadlaka is maybe the biggest one and it’s the most crowded and someone gave an order to close off the entrance.” “I came out because I was suffocating from the crowding during the hadlaka. They told me to leave from the stairs but it wasn’t possible to leave, people tried to leave but couldn’t. A father with a three-year-old was next to me and he pleaded with me: ‘Take him out, he’ll die here’ – and this was before the disaster. Slowly the crowding got even worse, with thousands trying to leave the hadlaka but the other side was closed.” “Until my dying day I’ll recognize that police officer. I don’t know if it was all because of him. I requested one thing – come down and see, people are fainting, do something. I cried to him for about five to seven minutes. I told him: ‘You’ll be responsible for what’s happening here.’ I also cried to two police officers who were standing next to him. Whoever thinks that the police are not guilty is making a big mistake. We were screaming and begging to open it up – no one understands who gave the order [to place a barrier by the exit] and why.” “They put the wall of death there. Anyone who was walking toward the entrance should have been able to leave and the barrier they put there blocked it off. People were suffocating at the hadlaka, they wanted to leave but there was no option.” “Those who say that there’s no one to blame, […]
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