The Carmel Fire Is Netanyahu's Katrina

The story of the Jewish people is that of great destruction followed by miraculous redemption.
That same resilient spirit is exemplified by your collective efforts to helpthis great city rebuild itself after Hurricane Katrina.
PM Netanyahu to General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans, November 9, 2010

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'I have been asked how we managed to put out a big fire in less than three days, while in other countries it can take three weeks? My response was that we have no other country'
PM Netanyahu to Druze officials, December 5, 2010

And now Netanyahu is faced with a Katrina of his own. As Haaretz has been quick to point out the Carmel fire is Netanyahu's Katrina:

The fire on the Carmel is Netanyahu's Hurricane Katrina, his BP oil spill. His behavior is reminiscent of George W. Bush's blundering responses to the hurricane in New Orleans, and to Barack Obama's dealings with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photos of Bush's and Obama's demeanor annoyed citizens, rather than calming them. Similarly, Netanyahu's appearance has worsened the demoralized national mood wrought by the dozens of fatalities, the mass evacuation and the helplessness of a state which within a day transformed from a world power and provider of humanitarian aid to a beggar dependent on charity airplanes and fire prevention materials.

At least that is the opinion of Amir Oren. His fellow Haaretz journalist, Aluf Benn, gives Netanyahu credit for dealing with the crisis like Giulani:

Netanyahu saw a chance to display authority and responsibility, and was quick to be photographed in the field issuing instructions. He was like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who stood at the smoldering Twin Towers on 9/11 while President George W. Bush lost control and was late in responding to the massive attack.

Netanyahu, who understands that political leadership relies on image, didn't want to look like Bush during the Katrina hurricane disaster in New Orleans, or like President Barack Obama during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. So he was quick to take off his tie and get on a helicopter heading north.

Netanyahu is putting together his defense: We didn't prepare for such a disaster, but the minute it occurred, I took command and rallied a fleet of firefighting aircraft from overseas.

Haaretz's Yossi Verter is less cynical still, saying Netanyahu deserves credit for dealing with the crisis:

To Netanyahu's credit, it must be said that he grasped the gravity of the situation from the start, unlike the example of President George W. Bush during Hurricane Katrina. During the first hours of the blaze, on Thursday afternoon, he started talking about a "national" and "international" crisis, went to the scene of the disaster and was not embarrassed to implore world leaders for assistance.

Even so, Verter cannot resist the temptation to see a message in the the Carmel fire for the peace process:

The international mobilization to help Israel proved to Netanyahu that his mantra, "the world is against us," is not necessarily true. When Israel faces crisis of this humanitarian character, even hostile states come to its aid. And though it has been hard to extract a single complimentary word from President Obama's mouth about Israel, he too rallied support for Israel in this situation. Perhaps Netanyahu now has a chance to seize the momentum, put an end to the crisis about extending the settlement freeze and revive the peace process.

For more perspective, go to Yaacov Lozowick who writes that public recriminations overlook the perfect storm that gave rise to the fire:

The public recriminations in Israel are already starting, and can be expected to get worse. Harshly lambasting the government is a national pastime. There's probably a lot of truth to the allegations that the fire-fighters are underfunded, under-equipped, lack a national command structure, and generally were near the back of the line of issues crying out for government funding. Moreover, if the political fallout includes some harm to Eli Yishai, the head of Shass and perhaps the Neandethal-in-Chief of the present coalition, who's going to complain.

...Nor is the growing chatter about how predictable the whole thing was, serious. The final bout of rain last winter was early, at the end of February. Then we had the hottest summer on record, and so far, the driest and hottest autumn ever; 2010 is apparently the first year since records began in the late 19th century in which there has been no effective rain by early December. In 2006 Hezbullah shot thousands of rockets at Israel, and there were no major fires; this one seems to have been started by one campfire light by two young idiots, then fanned by unusually strong, hot and dry easterly winds, in an area which normally has westerly winds which would have blown the fire away from the forest.

Read the whole thing.

Lozowick links to Jeffrey Goldberg, who manages to excel Haaretz in the cynicism department, writing that the Carml fire is Israel's fault and Jews should not rush to help:

Inevitably, the Jewish National Fund, which, among other things, plants forests in Israel, is asking for donations from Americans for its "Forest Fire Emergency Campaign," in response to the massive fire spreading across the Carmel mountains. But I'm not giving.

Israel's per capita GDP is nearly $30,000. Israel is a rich country. The fact that it doesn't possess adequate firefighting equipment is its own fault. The fact that the leadership of its fire service is incompetent is its own fault (you can read more about that here). At some point, the good-hearted Diaspora Jews who still think of Israel as a charity case are going to have to tell their cousins to learn to fully-fund basic services like firefighting if they want to be thought of as citizens of an advanced country.

There are a great many good causes in Israel that deserve help, and a great many causes here in America that deserve our help. It seems to me, however, that Israel's national fire service should be funded by Israel's government, not by the people of Boca Raton, Potomac and the Upper West Side.

My sympathy is with the people who lost their lives, their families, and those still in danger. It is not with a government that appears to be negligent. And I'm not going to contribute funds that might serve to paper-over the government's inadequacies.

I don't know all the facts, but I still think that Goldberg should not believe everything he reads. I recall the speed and ease with which the media came out blaming Bush for the Katrina disaster. As the facts slowly dribbled out, it became clear that there were other factors and other people to share responsibility--including the media.

For me, the name Katrina recalls not only the physical disaster, but also the failure of the media coverage of the Katrina disaster itself.

There will be plenty of time to get a true assessment of the blame.
In the meantime, I'm sure even Jeffrey Goldberg would not be opposed to planting a tree in Israel.

Technorati Tag: Carmel Fire and Netanyahu.