Opinion
The guilty party
Alex Fishman
Published: 03.12.10, 21:24
Comment Comment
Print comment Print comment
Back to article
63 Talkbacks for this article
1. Yeshivas are more important than human lives
Ariel ,   Tel Aviv   (12.03.10)
That seems to be the priority of the minister. What else can we expect of Eli Ishay?
2. bLAME THE cHARIDIM
dan ,   Miami, FL   (12.03.10)
3. minister is interior.
sas ,   israel   (12.03.10)
he should reisign and be put behind bars. the only thing that interests him is the religious people. he is good for nothing ezxcpet making children.
4. Haredim should never have been allowed in the Knesset
Secular ,   israel   (12.03.10)
They just don't CARE about ensuring our firefighters are well equipped - they only care about channeling funds to lazy bastard yeshiva students who do sod all for the state. As long as seculars are the majority, and they are, haradim should stay the hell out of the govenment and be grateful for what they get and stop pushing for more. Yishai should resign, he's a disgrace to this country, He's a loser and a nobody
5. He is busy of building more settlements
Me ,   Jerusalem   (12.03.10)
Shas is busy of building more settlements and land confiscation, and the other parties busy of buying aircrafts to the next war
6. Kick Haredim out the govenment
Talula ,   Israel   (12.03.10)
Their self-serving greed knows no limits - The government should cash in on all the money these leeches have been given and send in Yeshiva studens and Haredim to fight the fire - it's called return on investment.
7. fishman rants
alexi   (12.03.10)
Its not a good time to blame as israelis are struggling. Fishman is no expert believe me though he thinks he is one. Later on, matters will be studied. Vilani who is in charge of the home front will need to look at the fire services and why they were not modern and ready as well as barak who was in charge of vilani. Also, its pointless to have ministers like peretz at defense, or yishai in charge of fire services or olmert as PM as these are know nothing people in critical positions.
8. Politics.
Gabe Yakmore ,   Canada   (12.03.10)
A ministerial candidate's proven competence should take precedence over the politics of compromise.
9. Name ONE, just ONE member of the gov't
Schreiber ,     (12.03.10)
who is doing his job properly. Just go through the list, starting at the top. And to be fair, let's take a look at the previous Kadima administration too. Can you stand up and say, with all honesty, that they did their jobs well? Tzipi and Ehud almost handed over the farm to the PA because they thought they knew better than their despised voters. Kadima too overlooked urgent needs for self-defense. The political system in Israel is dysfunctional. It rewards incompetence and betrayal of political principles. That is the reality. It's a miracle Israel has lasted this long, with a system that rewards incompetence. No matter how bad their previous performance, MKs keep reappearing in cabinet and leadership positions. Anyone with a minimum of honesty should demand a replacement of the political system with one that includes strong MK accountablity to the voters.
10. Olmert did nothing after the fires during the lebanon war
jason ,   haifa israel   (12.03.10)
Media didn't say anything then when there were fires all over the place. For years after there were fires and israel didn't have the right planes and in 2007 a report was issued about it and firefighters leadership was begging olmert. After the war in 2006 there was a crisis with lack of being able to put out the fires. Huge areas of the forest were destroyed. A bus didn't catch fire so now this govt will get blamed when the real culprit is after the lebanon war and the report in 2007 they did nothing. Now we will have livni as PM and Dan Halutz as defense minister who lost the first war in israel's history and lost the deterrence. It lead to hamas using long range rockets and bunkers in gaza and hezbollah bringing them long range rockets. We won't talk about livni opening up gaza to iran by leaving the philadelphia route. Israel reporters are left wing hypocrites.
11. The time was in 2006 to buy new equipment during olmert govt
jason ,   haifa israel   (12.03.10)
That was the only way new equipment would have made it in time. You don't get planes overnight. Right after the lebanon war and the fires it should have taken place. But a left wing govt was in charge and the media says nothing at the time.
12. FIRE ELI YISHAI
Ari Cohen ,   Ramat Aviv   (12.03.10)
He and his SHAS party should never have been allowed into the government, or even yhe knesset. yishai, shas, ovadia Yosef and all haredim mean death to Israel, and it has been proven once more the last few days.
13. Shas can't be blamed for decades of mismanagement
Dr. L. Brnd ,   San Diego, USA   (12.03.10)
Yes, it would be nice if Yishai had made the repair of the Fire Service mistakes made by his predecessors a high priority, but c'mon, were talking about 20+ years of underfunding and failed leadership. At worst, Yishai has continued this tradition, progressed by Interior Ministers of Left, Right and Center. Someone must ask - WHO banned firefighting planes from operating at night in Israel, and WHY? WHO banned the use in Israel of the leading air-drop fire retardant, ammonium phosphate, and WHY? These are crazy practices, out of step with the rest of the world. They predate Shas and Yishai. With all the other deficiencies that may be pointed to Shas administration of ministries, and in Fire Service practice, the above 2 items were key components allowing the Carmel fire to turn into the Carmel WILDFIRE. Answers are required for these 2 outrages, not knee-jerk blaming Yishai and haredim. You can't change the past, you can only change the future.
14. #9: Yuval Shteinmitz, Herzog
to name 2   (12.03.10)
15. The Man is Busy Colonizing E.Jerusalem
Noah ,   USA   (12.04.10)
... Building illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land in E. Jerusalem. Give him and his Rabbi, Ovadia "God Strike the Palestinians with the Plaque" Yossef, a break!!
16. no blame for olmert interior minister who had twice as long
jason ,   haifa israel   (12.04.10)
For years after lebanon war fire officials were angry that the govt didn't get new planes and retartents when there would be fires. But no one blamed him. Olmert's interior minister was in charge when the last crisis happened in the lebanon war and did nothing at the time. A govt didn't respond during a crisis. Why wasn't the media on them then when israel was so inadequate in fighting the fires during the lebanon war that burned so much. I didn't see anyone calling for olmert's interior minister to resign even though he didn't act after a crisis.
17. Nonsense! I am not shas or Ishai fan but the blames
Sam   (12.04.10)
falls on the Israeli mentalitiy and all previous goverements. Israel is always looking how to create fires to others, never thought it can happan to Israel itself.
18. Get real
(12.04.10)
Please name one country of your size that has the ability to control such a fire. The forests are completely dry and wind was blowing with up to 50km/h. No firefighting force would have been able to prevent what happend on Thursday.
19. Resign now
Mark C   (12.04.10)
20. California had barely any resources to fight fire right away
jason ,   haifa israel   (12.04.10)
And they have much more money than Israel.
21. The tragedy because of bus driver, everyone else got out
jason ,   haifa israel   (12.04.10)
Everyone else got out. One bus driver thought he could beat the flames and made a bad decision that being 1,500 m away meant the flames weren't a danger. If the bus driver hadn't made that decision there would be zero fatalities.
22. #7 Alexi
Gabi   (12.04.10)
While I respect your position, I don't think Mr. Fishman's main interest is playing the blame game. The points he made about multiple conflagrations in the event of an attack, and Israel's inability to handle such an event, are more than valid. If Yishai just so happens to be the person responsible for Israel's unforgivable unpreparedness, then let it be known and have him removed from the Knesset at once. The thing to focus on now is for Israel to develop a national firefighting force, unparalled by any other country, and do it as quickly as possible.
23. who are you looking for ? a scapegoat or whos responsible ?
eporue ,   europe   (12.04.10)
responsible by 02-12-2010 is YISHAI - not any figure from history. when he took over his office, he took over responsibility. he saw everything, and - decided to do NOTHING... enough time he had.
24. Cut him some slack
Carla ,   NYC   (12.04.10)
the man was busy making life miserable for Israeli Arabs and Palestinians.
25. Yishai
sad ,   israel   (12.04.10)
the man is responsible for many negative things in the country. the best thing is for him is to go home - disappear from the politial arena and keep his mouth shut.........he's only good for making children, his wife for making hats, then his kids produce grandchildren. he and his followers are a partial cancer to our society. we need to remove the tumor and do chemo...........sad that the fire had PROVE this. There are Palestinians that behave the same way - but HONESTLY I prefer sitting opposite them than him. SAD but TRUE. The man is ruining secular Israel and people are leaving the country because of him and his party. he is a thing of the past. They are primitive people that live in their own world and cannot dictate what will be here. Minister of Intgerior - resign, Go home and Keep your muth shut. Too many people have lost their lives because of you. I am too "old" to "leave" here - but would if I could...............
26. this f*r just know how to buld yeshivas. F*k him
Alex   (12.04.10)
27. stop this populist propaganda against yishai
dovdevan ,   ashdod,israel   (12.04.10)
everyone has to find a scapegoat to explain this tragedy ! i'm not religious and i'm not here to defend yshai but i don't think either yishai could repair what the other governement hasn't done for all those years . everytime in israel we have to wait for catastrophical event to realize that we weren't ready .look at the 2 lebanon war .there are many things to change in the political management in israel
28. Israel's firefighting preparedness
Joy Ropp ,   Seattle Washington   (12.04.10)
The leaders of Israel receive $3 billion in aid from the US annually; the state of Israel has the 5th largest military in the world -- it spends its billions on death-dealing warplanes, tanks, helicopter gunships--and starves the rest of its public safety infrastructure, leaving its people vulnerable to real disasters.
29. enough is enough...
moi ,   ici   (12.04.10)
Stop giving money to the Haredim, they need to work like every other citizen, their kids should go to the army like every son/daughter...if they want to have 12 kids, then they should be financial responsible fot those kids....all the money that goes to the haredim should go to education,healtinsurance, better and safer roads etc...it shows again and again that Israel is NOT prepared fora ANYTHING, not a fire, earthquake, or any other nature disasters, I dont want to think even about the next war, I know i won't be here, thank G-d for dual nationality!!!
30. X
yoel reuben ,   Lod Israel   (12.04.10)
If this minister opf the ionterior is responsible for this situation (remove him) from office he is useless anyway- are you sleeping at meetings or you just dont care a dam. a through investigation into the failings of this Gov must be asked for
Next talkbacks
Back to article