The Accepted Narrative Of The Carmel Fire Avoids Some Uncomfortable Issues

Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA writes about how the Israeli media if avoiding the arson issue in the Carmel fire:

While the main fire in the Carmel could very well turn out to be the result of teenagers who neglected to make sure that a fire they made was properly extinguished, this fire was followed by a series of fires intentionally set by Arab arsonists across the country.

This piece of information is not being censored by the Israeli media in the sense that it is broadcast for a second and gets a sentence or two in reports.

But what a JNF official termed "widespread arson terror" apparently doesn't fit into the narrative that the Israeli media herd has locked into.

Dr. Lerner continues with the breakdown of what issues in the fire the media is concentrating on:

The narrative is:

15% grudgingly admitting that Netanyahu managed to bring in a lot of planes to put out the fire with coverage of their activity.

35% exploring when a committee of inquiry will be established that will call for Shas minister of interior Yishai's head (with the unspoken agenda that it is hoped that removing Yishai will lead to Shas being replaced by Kadima in the coalition)

25% color stories about the fate of the people impacted by the fire damage (with absolutely no discussion of the question as to the underlying fairness that those who paid for insurance will apparently end up no better off than those who didn't -- with a clear message to the general public that they are idiots if they continue to pay for expensive earthquake insurance since if
and when there is an earthquake they will be no better off than their neighbors who didn't pay insurance all these years).

25% The funerals and follow up on people killed in the fires

Dr. Lerner concludes that the separate narrative of Arab arson terror is not addressed because it raises uncomfortable questions about Arab-Jewish relations on the one hand and on the other, 'horrific' questions about the next war: what Israel may face in terms of Israeli Arab chaos and what will be required to deal with it.

So far all the criticism by the Israeli media that the Israeli government did not adequately prepare for the eventuality of a Carmel fire--the media is doing the same thing: avoiding the tough issues one would expect the media to analyze and challenge the government on.

Technorati Tag: Carmel Fire.