Political Repercussions of the Carmel Fire

The big fire on Mount Carmel, which I posted about last week, has now been brought under control, but with heavy dependence on international assistance. Not surprisingly, this huge natural disaster — given the relative populations, a comparison to Hurricane Katrina is only slightly exaggerated, I think — has led to the usual recriminations. Akiva Eldar sees it as a sign of Israel's overreach in its image of itself, though that's probably stretching the parallels a bit.

Prime Minister Netayanhu is opposing an in indepedent inqjiry into the fire, though several in his Cabinet have called for one. One of those calling for an independent inquiry is Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai, of the Sephardic Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. Yishai is looking like bearing the brunt of the blame, especially after the (rightist, pro-Likud) Jerusalem Post reported that he had blocked the donation of state-of-the-art fire trucks on the grounds they were coming from a Christian Evangelical group.

Not surprisingly, Yishai is blaming the Treasury. but his resignation is being demanded by some in the Knesset, and of course by the Israeli left/center, Some on the right are piling on too. It's interesting to see a major political issue in Israel that involves neither the peace process, secular/religious divides, divorce or marriage.