Meetig discusses comptroller report
Knesset discusses Carmel Fire report
Ministers, MKs and local authority officials gather as Control Committee holds meeting on state comptroller's report into Carmel disaster. 'Writing was on the wall,' says Minister Yishai
A month after the publication
of the Carmel fire disaster
report, which exposed severe failings in the handling of the fire of 2010 in which 44 people's
lives were lost, on Tuesday the Knesset Control Committee held a meeting on the findings.
Newly appointed State Comptroller Yosef Shapira and other officials connected with the report took part in the meeting including government representatives and representatives from the local authorities and fire and rescue services.
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Also among the participants was Interior Minister Eli Yishai who according to the report carries special liability for the severe failings.
Carmel fire disaster: 'Writing was on the wall' (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
Yishai said: "I hope that lessons will be learned where possible. Addressing the state comptroller's report on the matter, the writing was on the wall. When I came to the ministry three years ago I saw a fire services layout that suffered from years of major shortages. The entire government is obligated to draw conclusions.
"The families are left with great suffering, our hearts are with you … Nothing can bring back the thing the families held dear but we as a government and Knesset are commanded to do everything we can to prevent these kinds of events."
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that the report was "one of the most in depth and professional reports. The work was very professional. I was not kept waiting, not for the report and not for the first draft.
"In the first days of our investigation we started with teams that examined what needed to be fixed and went into the field to see what happened and how things were done and where the mishaps occurred."
Committee Chairman MK Uri Ariel (National Union) noted Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz's refusal to attend the meeting and sent his wishes for a swift recovery to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was also invited to take part in the meeting but could not attend as his leg was in a cast.
David Dayan, father of Prison Service Cadet Yochai Dayan who was killed in the disaster, expressed harsh criticism and said: "We know for a fact that prison guards who survived the disaster were threatened and warned to remain silent. The possibility of giving them immunity should be examined."
The bereaved families are demanding that a national commission of inquiry be launched to examine the circumstances surrounding the tragic events.
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