Bibi Attends Ceremony for Carmel Fire Victims

By Haaretz December 19, 2011

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai both attended Monday a ceremony to unveil a new memorial for the victims of the Carmel blaze, which ravaged Israel’s north in December of 2010.

At first, both Netanyahu and Yishai were not expected to arrive at the ceremony, following year-long tensions between the victims’ families and the state over what relatives saw as the latter’s ineptitude in face of the disaster.

In January of this year, relatives and friends of those killed in the devastating Carmel fire refused to let Netanyahu speak during the official state memorial ceremony to deliver a eulogy to the victims.

In a further display of the family members’ rage over the government’s handling of the massive blaze, Interior Minister Yishai left the memorial after Danny Rosen, the partner of fallen Haifa Police Chief Ahuva Tomer, told Netanyahu that he would not remain at the ceremony unless Yishai stepped out.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO