Four papers discuss the wildfire which raged over the weekend in the Carmel mountain range in northern Israel:
Ma’ariv argues that „Our management of affairs up until the Carmel disaster was one enormous failure. The simple reason is, once again, that until a catastrophe strikes – nobody cares.”
Yisrael Hayom maintains that „Interior Minister Eli Yishai is not the only one accountable for the Fire and Rescue Service’s most fateful day. It is the aggregate responsibility of Israel’s Governments over its 62 years of existence. But he is the one accountable now, and more so than all of his predecessors. Because, following the failure of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, [State Comptroller] Micha Lindenstrauss prepared a comprehensive report on deficiencies discovered on the home front. The concern is that only a few were fixed.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses „The fire we all saw coming,” and states: „We have an obligation to those who perished, were injured or suffered emotional or financial loss to do everything within our power to ensure that no citizen is needlessly exposed to this kind of danger.”
Haaretz declares that „The Carmel disaster highlights the outrageous gaps in Israel’s strategic and day-to-day readiness,” and also „underscores the discrepancy between Israel’s image and reality.” The editor calls for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, as opposed to a lower-level investigative committee, which „is needed in order to examine the disaster’s causes, the fire service’s failings and the responsibility for many years of shortfalls.”
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Yediot Aharonot believes that „The Prime Minister must examine the channels of communications with the Syrians with the intent of reaching an agreement. Otherwise, we have yet to invent the fire extinguisher that would put out the fire that is liable to spread to Israel’s cities one day.”
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