While this is completely anecdotal, I think it's pretty informative. I spoke with a fire fighter yesterday, and he told me the following:
"I immediately knew that last week's fires, and today's fires, had to be arson. In firefighting school we learned about the normal causes of wildfires, and the *only* natural cause is lighting. Most of the time, it's someone throwing a cigarette on the side of the road or not putting a campfire out. In this case, there were three things that made me conclude that it was arson. 1. Time of day. Both last week and this week the fires started early morning. This is highly unusual for a campfire getting out of hand or a cigarette not being put out. 2. Location. The fires started in the middle of nowhere, not near any campground or road. 3. There were no reports or detections of lightning."
While this quote isn't verbatim (it was word of mouth), it makes a lot of sense. You also can't tell based on this logic who it was that set the fire.
On the other hand, Times of Israel is reporting that the fir authorities do actually think that it wasn't arson, and that there were a much higher than usual volume of hikers in יער הקדושים, close to where the original fires started.
People in eastern North America used to think that we didn't have wildfires. We do. Including just one week ago, in New Jersey. What woke us up were the 2023 fires in Canada that made the air quality in New York City unsafe.
Being a firefighter would be a perfect career for young men who want to spend most of their time studying Torah. The typical life of a firefighter is sitting around waiting for calls to fight a fire, which happens just a few times a week, if that, in most cities. And responding to a fire would be pikuach nefesh which should justify dropping Torah study according to everyone.
1) It's been quite a dramatic fire. But nobody was killed, no homes destroyed that I know of, the forests will regrow, and I have to wonder whether spending a lot more money on fire prevention is the best use of resources.
2) Amit Segal reports that Ben Gvir told Netanyahu about 18 cases of incitement to arson, but Netanyahu misunderstood and thought it was 18 people arrested for actual arson. (Of course, it is possible that Netanyahu only claims to have misunderstood, but in any case this is where the number 18 comes from.)
3) Also in the realm of stupid comments, did you see Aryeh Deri commenting that arsonists should be bombed from the air without trial, because they are "ticking time bombs" threatening our lives in wartime?
Pollard was interviewed this morning and said that he pitched the government on remodeling the 747s that are now being disassembled at the airport into ff tankers and got shrugs, it's a petite fire fighting Force🤔 at the moment
the small planes that were commissioned from Elbit after the incineration in the bus of soldiers and guards (oy) incident only hold 750 gallons each.
I'm still mystified how my daughters friends seminary in Jerusalem had no keys to the bars on the windows or fire suppression equipment and an Arab had to wander upon the scene and rescue the girls by somehow kicking down a wall that he knew about.
Appreciate the clarification on the species they were probably alluding to eucalyptus which must be a fire risk where it's planted, it's original use was to dry up the swamps.
Any idea how many have actually been arrested / detained? I was more floored by the fact that all of today's ceremonies were canceled
747s have been successfully converted into firefighting aircraft. Unfortunately, the businesses that have done this have not done well; the economics of commercial aviation is that aircraft have to be in revenue service almost constantly and firefighting aircraft spend most of their time on the ground waiting for a fire.
You know what’s ironic, this appeared directly above this Slifkin post in my Substack feed:
There's been a lot of disinformation about the forests going up in smoke around Jerusalem.
Here is a short clip from a talk I gave at one of the forests planted by Israel over the 500-plus Palestinian villages it destroyed in 1948, during the Nakba, to stop the inhabitants returning.
Perhaps the fire started naturally???? REALLY? I believe that, even if things are incredibly dry, there has to be some source of ignition. Possible sources are a campfire, tossed cigarette, or (a VERY likely source) arson. The Muslims, according to THEIR cardinal writings, wish to subvert the ENTIRE world, especially Israel.
Even something as commonplace as a shard of broken glass on dry grass can act as a magnifying glass to start a fire. Forest fires are incredibly easy to be started spontaneously.
While this is completely anecdotal, I think it's pretty informative. I spoke with a fire fighter yesterday, and he told me the following:
"I immediately knew that last week's fires, and today's fires, had to be arson. In firefighting school we learned about the normal causes of wildfires, and the *only* natural cause is lighting. Most of the time, it's someone throwing a cigarette on the side of the road or not putting a campfire out. In this case, there were three things that made me conclude that it was arson. 1. Time of day. Both last week and this week the fires started early morning. This is highly unusual for a campfire getting out of hand or a cigarette not being put out. 2. Location. The fires started in the middle of nowhere, not near any campground or road. 3. There were no reports or detections of lightning."
While this quote isn't verbatim (it was word of mouth), it makes a lot of sense. You also can't tell based on this logic who it was that set the fire.
Otherwise, great post!
On the other hand, Times of Israel is reporting that the fir authorities do actually think that it wasn't arson, and that there were a much higher than usual volume of hikers in יער הקדושים, close to where the original fires started.
This was confirmed by a KKL worker. He said israel doesn’t have natural fires.
Maybe not, but Israel has a heckuva lot of people who smoke and toss their cigarettes.
This was confirmed by a KKL worker. He said israel doesn’t have natural fires.
This was confirmed by a KKL worker. He said israel doesn’t have natural fires.
People in eastern North America used to think that we didn't have wildfires. We do. Including just one week ago, in New Jersey. What woke us up were the 2023 fires in Canada that made the air quality in New York City unsafe.
Being a firefighter would be a perfect career for young men who want to spend most of their time studying Torah. The typical life of a firefighter is sitting around waiting for calls to fight a fire, which happens just a few times a week, if that, in most cities. And responding to a fire would be pikuach nefesh which should justify dropping Torah study according to everyone.
Thank you for the informative article as always.
1) It's been quite a dramatic fire. But nobody was killed, no homes destroyed that I know of, the forests will regrow, and I have to wonder whether spending a lot more money on fire prevention is the best use of resources.
2) Amit Segal reports that Ben Gvir told Netanyahu about 18 cases of incitement to arson, but Netanyahu misunderstood and thought it was 18 people arrested for actual arson. (Of course, it is possible that Netanyahu only claims to have misunderstood, but in any case this is where the number 18 comes from.)
3) Also in the realm of stupid comments, did you see Aryeh Deri commenting that arsonists should be bombed from the air without trial, because they are "ticking time bombs" threatening our lives in wartime?
Great stuff, well said.
And two posts in one day, what zechus :) if only it was due to better circumstances.
רק שמחות
This is important. People rush to point fingers and to mix ideology into the narrative without properly assessing the facts first.
Pollard was interviewed this morning and said that he pitched the government on remodeling the 747s that are now being disassembled at the airport into ff tankers and got shrugs, it's a petite fire fighting Force🤔 at the moment
the small planes that were commissioned from Elbit after the incineration in the bus of soldiers and guards (oy) incident only hold 750 gallons each.
I'm still mystified how my daughters friends seminary in Jerusalem had no keys to the bars on the windows or fire suppression equipment and an Arab had to wander upon the scene and rescue the girls by somehow kicking down a wall that he knew about.
Appreciate the clarification on the species they were probably alluding to eucalyptus which must be a fire risk where it's planted, it's original use was to dry up the swamps.
Any idea how many have actually been arrested / detained? I was more floored by the fact that all of today's ceremonies were canceled
747s have been successfully converted into firefighting aircraft. Unfortunately, the businesses that have done this have not done well; the economics of commercial aviation is that aircraft have to be in revenue service almost constantly and firefighting aircraft spend most of their time on the ground waiting for a fire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/747_Supertanker
I thought of an obvious second use
For when they're not putting out the fires
Refilling the Dead Sea 🤷 👌
And help with regional fires
You know what’s ironic, this appeared directly above this Slifkin post in my Substack feed:
There's been a lot of disinformation about the forests going up in smoke around Jerusalem.
Here is a short clip from a talk I gave at one of the forests planted by Israel over the 500-plus Palestinian villages it destroyed in 1948, during the Nakba, to stop the inhabitants returning.
There's no smoke without fire.
Perhaps the fire started naturally???? REALLY? I believe that, even if things are incredibly dry, there has to be some source of ignition. Possible sources are a campfire, tossed cigarette, or (a VERY likely source) arson. The Muslims, according to THEIR cardinal writings, wish to subvert the ENTIRE world, especially Israel.
Even something as commonplace as a shard of broken glass on dry grass can act as a magnifying glass to start a fire. Forest fires are incredibly easy to be started spontaneously.
הדרן עלך מסכת מכות
And the end was incredibly appropriate for יום העצמאות. :)
"Its always others to blame."
And Natan Slifkin always knows who the "others" are in the government.
Yes, it's the ones who've been warned for years that Israel was not sufficiently prepared.
Impressive tree knowledge.