It was only a matter of time before the Charedim could be blamed for the massive fire which has killed dozens of people, and destroyed thousands of acres of land. The finger pointing started with the following Op-Ed by Alex Fishman in Ynet:
Imagine that a missile barrage landed Thursday on the Carmel, in central Israel, or in the Galilee region, producing fires in five different sites. What state would this country be in then?
Thursday’s catastrophe is merely an example of the helplessness of the State of Israel’s emergency services. The weakest link within this establishment is the fire department.
On Thursday, Israel’s firefighting force collapsed in the face of a fire storm. It was indeed spreading over a very large area, but in only one region. What would have we done in the face of dozens and hundreds of missiles producing fire storms in various regions nationwide, including urban areas with high-rises? Who in Israel is prepared to cope with such scenario?
The defense establishment has been talking nonsense for years now about home front preparations for a missile attack, yet on Thursday we got the real answer: We don’t really have a national firefighting force.
What we have is some brave people risking their lives, but we also have people who are turning these brave souls into a laughing stock with improper equipment and standards only familiar in the Third World.
And it’s not just the equipment. The operations of Israel’s firefighting force are odd, to say the least. The firefighting commissioner wanted the help of all fire departments nationwide, but he is not their boss. Firefighters in Israel are under the jurisdiction of regional councils and municipalities. Had they not volunteered to help, all we could do would be to plead for divine help.
Yet this failure has an address. This person disappeared from the public eye Thursday, and this was no coincidence. He is intimately familiar with the firefighting force’s grim state. His name is Eli Yishai and he is the interior minister, who holds the ministerial responsibility for the failure. Had Yishai shown the same kind of care for Shas’ schools and its yeshiva students, Rabbi Ovadia would have fired him a while ago.
Some six months ago, Minister Yishai received the state comptroller’s draft report on the nation’s firefighting services. The report will be published within days. If Yishai remains in his post after this report’s publications, the notion of ministerial responsibility would lose its meaning.
By the way, in the wake of the new draft report, the government decided to pour tens of millions of shekels in order to improve the collapsing firefighting services. Yet where’s the money? And where’s the equipment? Ask the bureaucrats.
On Thursday, we saw a pathetic government attempt to cope with this unforgivable failure. We deserve security, but we don’t have it.
(Source: Ynet)
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7 Responses
I don’t understand this:
There is no mention of chareidim in this entire article, so why is YWN acting as if it does? Alex Fishman is pointing out something that is true: firefighting in Israel is under the responsibilities of Minister Eli Yishai. Minister Yishai did not follow through on his responsibilities. Therefore, the buck stops with him. Ultimately, he will pay the price,, and deservedly so.
It has nothing to do with his being chareidi. Stop trying to make that into the issue; that just deflects the criticism somewhere else, where it doesn’t belong.
What a load of lashon haraa!!!! I really hope you had a heter to reprint this!!
BS”D
If the state had contracted fire services out to ZAKA, the fire would have been out two hours after it started. For that matter if Yehuda Meshi Zahav had added firefighting to the services ZAKA provides on his own even without one agora for the state, it would be under control.
wow. has there ever been such a misleading title? perhaps you could even write “male blamed for carmel fire” and claim that this is all some feminist conspiracy. is blaming obama for the economic situation in america a sign of racism?
perhaps you weren’t aware of what you yourself wrote in this article – that Yishai is responsible for the competence of the fire departments in israel. it has nothing to do with Chareidi or not. it has to do with inaction. and frankly, it sickens me that the author of this article so clearly played on emotional strings just to get a read.
SHOYTA!
Of course they blame Yishai and the frum!!!
What about THE LAST 60 YEARS OF INTERIOR MINISTERS WHO NEGLECTED THE FIRE DEPARTMENT????!!!!!
GET REAL!!!
THIS WAS A DIRECT ATTACK ON YISHAI AND FUNDING FOR MOSDOS HATORAH!
The lack of preparedness does fall on Interior Minister Yishai as it is on his watch, but it also should fall on Finance Minister Steinitz as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu for not providing adequate funding. It also falls on their many predecessors over the past decades as the lack of funding for public safety has been a problem for a long time.
This is unfortunately a national security issue. Our enemies now know to load their missiles not with explosives but with incendiaries. We are defenseless.
#4,
The original article did not have the word, “charedi”. That was an addition by YWN editors.