State comptroller: Civilians in real danger
In temperamental Knesset meeting, State Control Committee discusses demand to appoint state commission of inquiry into firefighting failures which led to deadly Carmel blaze. Most members expected to vote against inquiry
The discussion, attended by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, focused on the state comptroller's scathing report on the situation of Israel's firefighting services and the demand to appoint a state commission of inquiry.
He went on to criticize the government. "The culture of rolling the responsibility from one minister to another and from one ministry to another is expanding and must be stopped immediately.
"The concept of ministerial responsibility has a meaning. A minister serving for two years must take responsibility. A person receiving the keys to a governmental ministry must know that he is taking responsibility. A minister is not just an office and a seat and a Volvo. A minister means responsibility.
"This is a culture that cannot be accepted. This is a culture which has claimed lives. The way to change the decision making culture in Israel is through a state commission of inquiry. Our decision must revive the public's trust in the State's government systems.
"Everyone must know that we are doing everything to prevent such a disaster from repeating itself, in order to guarantee that those who failed will pay the price – so that people will know that responsibility can be measured and tested. This is our moment of truth as Knesset members."
State Control Committee, Tuesday (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Hasson then gave the floor to the state comptroller. "The report speaks for itself – there was a failure here which means the civilian population was neglected at a time of emergency," Lindenstruass said.
"Another point is that many residents' lives will be in real danger if our reports are not implemented. This is one of the reasons we moved up the submission of the report by several weeks, because we saw a real danger here… What has been said in the report must be implemented – it's a duty."
Major-General (res.) Mandy Or, who is in charge of the defense establishment at the State Comptroller's Office, was next to speak. "In the report we spoke about spiritual decline among the leaders. There is not enough equipment, not enough people and no training.
"The threat we are facing is real and could happen within a short time. People may be killed in their own houses. We reexamined this system and discovered that the failures we spoke about after the Second Lebanon War have not been repaired, and the situation has gotten worse."
According to Or, "Discussions have been held since 2007. There have been decisions, letters, meetings and accusations passed from one another. On the ground nothing has been done to repair the situation, even four years after the war."
'Experimenting with humans'
The meeting was also attended by family members of the fire's victims, who demanded answers from the ministers. Naami Moder of the village of Arraba, who lost his brother Osama Naamana, told Ministers Yishai and Steinitz that "what happened here was human experimentation."
Naamana told the ministers and MKs that his family "has not received any answers about what happened or didn't happen. I'll let you know an embarrassing thing: There is contradicting information. Our request is to receive information about the 12 hours. Someone must take responsibility and resign."
He elaborated on the questions the families want answered: "How is it that the scene of the incident was not closed off?" he asked, demanding to know who gave the order to send the cadets to Damon Prison. "How is it that I watch TV and the internet and see people burning? The State had no equipment to deal with it."
A relative of Ayas Sarahan spoke about the difficult moments. "My nephew has small babies and we all have to explain to them why and how. We are looking for answers. What happened from the moment the officers' school was ordered to send the force until the disaster – what was their job? Why were they taken?
"We need to know that this won't repeat itself. We need an external body to look into it. We don't care what you will do with the guilty ones. It's a shame if more lives will be lost. It won't bring back our son. We only care about the commander's judgment… Whoever has to take responsibility should be a man and say it to our face."
Yishai: We did more than other governments
Minister Yishai responded to his critics: "This government has done, perhaps not enough, but more than other governments have done. I don't know governments which have engaged in such urgent discussions."
He said he has warned about the firefighting services' situation time and again. "It's true that warning is not enough. A minister can lead, battle and fight, and eventually it reaches the government and there is a vote."
MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima) suggested that he resign. Yishai responded, "It's interesting that other ministers are not asked such questions. You also voted in favor of the state budget which did not give the firefighting services what they deserved."
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said Monday that he would also oppose the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Carmel fire disaster, after a discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The PM has apparently also convinced MK Raleb Majadele (Labor) to vote with the coalition against a national commission inquiry, thus obtaining a majority of eight members against the establishment of an inquiry committee.
One of the possible solutions is to have the state comptroller probe the Carmel fire himself. Lindenstrauss may also head a team which will look into the implementation of his report's conclusions.
The State Comptroller's Office said in response that "first of all, the recommendations of last week's report must be implemented within a limited period of time. If that happens, we'll seriously consider the Knesset's request."
In response to the development, the Kadima party accused Netanyahu of "buying Knesset members."
"This is political blackmail that stinks to high heaven. Netanyahu is buying MKs shamelessly, thus trying to shirk his responsibility for one of the biggest catastrophes the country has ever known at any price. Netanyahu knows what he has to hide and so is investing all his efforts in foiling an inquiry into the fire, more than he invested to prevent the fire itself," a Kadima statement read.
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