State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss submitted his draft report on the Carmel fire disaster, which killed 44 police and fire personnel in December 2010 to the government yesterday. The extraordinarily harsh report places ministerial responsibility for the disaster on Minister of Interior Eli Yishai, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and reportedly on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well.
Lindenstrauss cites a series of serious deficiencies and failures as the cause of the tragedy, including preventing the fire from breaking out in the first place. He earlier said that the report exposes "extreme negligence" and serious flaws in the functioning of the authorities.
Although Lindenstrauss says that ministers bear responsibility, he does not draw personal conclusions against any of the ministers he criticizes, instead focusing on the ministries, but not the ministers. Personal conclusions would affect the ministers as individuals; ministerial responsibility evades this.
By law, the draft report is confidential until the respondents respond to the criticisms. They have 30 days to do so, after which the final report will published and made public.
In January, Lindestrauss said that he would exceed the mandate given him by the government in the case, and that he would not merely given an opinion about the fire, as Netanyahu asked him to do. Instead, he said that he would conduct a thorough investigation into the deficiencies that led to the Carmel disaster at the request of the Knesset State Control Committee.
The criticism focuses on six failures, which require immediate correction: the events of the first day of the fire until the disaster when the bus was caught in the flames; the defense establishment's readiness for an emergency; forest fire prevention; the Fire and Rescue Services system; local authorities and the Ministry of Interior's fire readiness and functioning in case of fire; and the responsibility of ministers of the current and previous governments for these failures and deficiencies.
Lindestrauss investigated why the bus carrying the Prison Service cadets entered the fire zone, who was responsible for closing the area and roads, and the rescue arrangements at the time.
Lindenstrauss also investigated the Fire and Rescue Services, which is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior, and their ability to carry out their duties. He investigated whether extraneous factors, including partisan political interests at local authorities and salaries affected decisions on the service.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 15, 2011
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