We land at Ben Gurion Airport in the heat of winter, on the first day of Chanukah. At 11 a.m. Dec. 2, already it is 82 degrees in Tel Aviv — unusual weather for the rainy season in Israel. And it will get hotter. Much hotter.
The most well-circulated piece of trivia about Gene Simmons, former member of the band KISS, is that he was born in Haifa, Israel.
Israel\’s Knesset will meet in a special session on the rash of protests sweeping the nation despite being on summer recess.
Haifa is poised to be the next home to a Disney amusement park. A 20-acre, $168 million entertainment complex including a 25-screen multiplex and a Disney amusement park is set to be built near the Carmel Tunnel.
Israel\’s attorney general will not open a criminal investigation into the Carmel fire.\n
In the aftermath of the deadliest fire in Israel’s history, Israelis this week set to the task of burying the dead, cleaning up and figuring out what exactly went wrong — and who is to blame.
First, of course, are the dead and the injured. Almost all of them young, in a training program for prison guards, trapped in a bus, incinerated. Who by fire? That, says the prayer, God decides: “On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: How many shall pass away and how many shall be born, who shall live and who shall die, who in the fullness of time and who before his time, who shall perish by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by earthquake and who by plague, who by strangulation and who by stoning, who shall have rest and who shall wander, who shall be at peace and who shall be pursued, who shall be at rest and who shall be tormented, who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low, who shall become rich and who shall be impoverished. But repentance, prayer and righteousness transform the severity of the decree.”
A standout among the many tragedies of the Carmel fires is the severe damage to the Yemin Orde Youth Village in Northern Israel, which has displaced all of its residents — nearly 500 children originally from Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union and other countries, as well as Israeli-born children who moved to the school from dysfunctional homes. The fire destroyed nearly 20 buildings, including the library, children’s homes, some classrooms, staff housing and a special unit for the youngest children, and many other buildings were damaged on the 77-acre campus atop Mount Carmel.
The Fire and Rescue Services organization is the weak link in Israel\’s emergency readiness, a report said.
This is a map of the the areas affected by the Carmel forest fire in northern Israel, which began Thursday Dec. 2.
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