The Carmel Fire--And An International Show Of Support For Israel (Update: Palestinians Help Too)

Over at Arutz Sheva, Gil Ronen is writing that there is still no definitive word on whether the Carmel fire is arson or not:

The fire in the Carmel Mountains may turn out to be the worst terror act in Israel's history, but major news outlets appear resolute in their will to ignore this possibility and its implications.

Israel's left-oriented major news media are on the whole defining the fire as a "disaster," spending most of their broadcast time discussing the insufficient preparation for a disaster of this magnitude and downplaying the fact that Arab arson is likely to be behind the blaze.

MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) of the National Union was the first leader Thursday to publicly give voice the possibility that the fire was a terror attack – “an act of arson that turned into a massacre,” in his words. Most of the large forest fires in Israel are set by hostile Arabs, Katz said. He noted that he had proposed a bill for minimum punishment of terror arsonists nine months ago, and blamed Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman for torpedoing it.

40 people killed. And according to the Jewish National Fund: 20,000 dunams of forest have been destroyed--translating into 1.5 million trees burned.

Among the reasons to suspect arson is the fact that the fire appears to have spread from 3 different locations simultaneously--making Arab Israelis likely suspects:

Arab citizens of Israel use arson as a simple means of inflicting terror and destruction upon the Jewish state. Large scale fires recently consumed 5,000 acres in the Golan Heights. A fire was set in the Gilad Farm several weeks ago and an Arab was seen fleeing by a group of soldiers in the area.

If there is any bright spot to this disaster, it is the fact that the Carmel fire has brought Israel help from unexpected places:

Israeli authorities are expecting to receive more than 20 firefighting aircraft Thursday night from Britain, France, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Azerbaijan and Russia to help in the effort to contain the northern blaze that claimed at least 40 lives.

Despite the great diplomatic tensions vis-à-vis Israel, Turkish officials announced that they too will be sending two firefighting airplanes. Egypt also pledged to send a plane to help battle the blaze. Later Thursday, Jordan and Bulgaria said they are willing to send firefighting teams to help contain the fire. Italy also said it would offer assistance.

Early Friday, US President Barack Obama offered his condolences to families of the 40 victims in Thursday’s blaze.

Obama also offered American assistance in containing the blaze.

We may yet find out that this fire is the worst terror act in Israel's history, but has there ever been this kind of outpouring of assistance from this wide an assortment of countries to come to the aid of Israel?

UPDATE: Aliyah! Step-By-Step reports that the Palestinian Authority has sent help too:

The Palestinian Authority has sent in several fire brigades, the first of which arrived to lend a hand last night in the area immediately around Haifa. Other brigades have been hastily assembled and have arrived throughout the day and are currently concentrated on the area ablaze closest to Jenin.

At the same time, Elder of Zion notes that Palestine Today has an editorial strongly opposed to helping--and happy with the destruction:

Our advice to the kind-hearted Arab countries is to think carefully before venturing to help [the Zionist] entity, which flows into lava for day and night on our unarmed people, whether in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip. Here we have to tell you how happy our Palestinian people are at the killing 40 Zionist wardens burned to death.

The assistance to the entity is not a crime but treason to the blood of all the martyrs, and therefore assure them, that many lessons will be learned from this "divine fire", and the lesson that the most prominent in the demise of this entity is no more a matter of time.

Technorati Tag: Carmel Fire.