Mt. Herzl disaster reaches tearful settlement
Four years after 2nd Lt Hila Bezaleli was killed after being hit by a lighting fixture during rehearsals for Independence Day on Mount Herzl, plea reached with Design Group; speaking to the defendants, Hila's mother Sigalit implored them to 'Be better, so such incidents will never happen again.'
Four years after 2nd Lt Hila Bezaleli.was killed after being hit by a windblown lighting fixture during rehearsals for the Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl, a plea deal has been reached with Design Group (Itzuv Bama), the company that erected the lighting fixture.
Design Group CEO Doron Lavi, CFO Elad Lavi and production manager Taimuraz (Tomer) Laonidzeh were all accused of being responsible for the negligence that caused Bezaleli's death.
The plea completely acquits Doron Lavi of any wrongdoing, while Elad Lavi and Laonidzeh will admit to causing death and injury out of negligence. Laonidzeh will be sentenced to seven months in prison while Elad Lavi will receive six months. The plea does not specify whether the Bezaleli family will be granted damages for their loss, or whether the company itself would also be criminally convicted.
The trial of the two main defendants in the case, engineer Oren Varshavsky and safety consultant Yitzhak Zucker, is still ongoing.
Following the plea, Varshavsky's legal team issued a statement that said, "Now that those who were truly at fault and who had recklessly decided to keep information from Varshavsky have taken responsibility, the engineer will be able to truly claim his innocence. The plaintiffs have finally admitted their guilt and said that they had kept Varshavsky away from the premise, where he could have acted as an engineer."
The indictment states that the stage structure used during the ceremony was erected by Group Design despite the company's employees lacking the necessary professional skills and a lack of any engineering planning or engineetring oversight. In addition, it was found that the structure was built using inappropriate and incompatible equipment. Described as improvisational, the structure's anchoring mechanism was built without foresight and was found to be unstable and inefficient.
On top of all this, it was discovered that the day prior to the structure's collapse, Lavi received a call from the ceremony's producer, Alex Sela, who warned him that the structure was unusually wobbly. Sela claimed that Lavi then sent a worker lacking experience, knowledge or professional training to check it out. Sela himself was not indicted due to lack of evidence.
Sigalit Bezaleli cried during the court proceedings and spoke of the tremendous loss she has suffered. "Hila's death got to everyone, it's hard to calm down from this."
Referring to the plaintiffs, Bezaleli said, "This is the norm in Israel … the mediocrity, the cutting of corners. 'I just want to put a little more money in my pocket.' We've heard the testimonies here, about how they were warned the evening before. If these people would have stood up and said, 'Guys, we're dealing with human lives here, this is beyond money,' this wouldn't have happened." She added that "This was a disaster caused by people who were negligent and not good."
"I want Group Design to take on the challenge to build something and name it after Hila, make it a home for at-risk girls, at-risk boys," Bezaleli added. "She so deserves that, after losing her own life at 20, having it cut short. That's the compensation I want, something for the community and for society, so that I could feel that my daughter died knowing we're better people. I'm fighting and will continue to fight, in the name of my daughter and so everyone who is guilty will accept their punishment and say, 'I'm sorry, I was wrong'. People need to see that and fear (such a consequence)."
Turning to the defendants, she said, "I implore you, be better, so such incidents will never happen again. I manage Mount Herzl to this day with strength. I am telling you, this is the face of our country and our people."
