than to allocate smaller sums. Of course we need planes - seeing our esteemed leaders standing next to a plane is much sexier than having them stand next to fire engines, ladders or hoses ... This is so typical of Netanyahu - to promise bombastic solutions rather than implementing simpler, and much lower cost, options.

The NIS 60 million is "for the immediate restoration of the infrastructure and local authorities" hurt by the blaze. I don't know what that includes, but it's definitely not planes. New fire fighting capabilities, including the hiring and training of many new firefighters, will cost yet more. But as a "rich" OECD member, it's something Israel needs and can afford. But whether the primary blaze was arson or not, the enemy is taking a lesson from Israel's current limited capabilities. Just imagine if, in the next conflict, Hizbullah loads many of their missiles not with explosives but with incendiaries.

What did the lady say? "Culture Minister Limor Livnat also said that "the calls of accusations are premature. A natural disaster of an incredible scale has occurred here, now we need to stop, think and examine" Does this ex-minister of education believe that a man-made fire, allowed to burn up a man-made (mostly) forest, which could have been nipped in the bud and which was fought without proper resources because men in the govt. refused to allocate them, is a natural disaster? Actually she and the rest of the hacks running this country (into the ground) are man-made disasters.