- Title: ISRAEL: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heckled during fire memorial service
- Date: 6th January 2011
- Summary: HIGHWAY 4 ON MOUNT CARMEL, ISRAEL (FILE- DECEMBER 3, 2010) (REUTERS) FIRE MAN WALKING BESIDE HIGHWAY WITH FLAMES IN BACKGROUND FIRE FIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING FIRES BY HIGHWAY VARIOUS OF TREE ON FIRE NEXT TO ROAD BEIT OREN, ISRAEL (FILE - DECEMBER 3, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REMAINS OF BURNT BUS, SITE OF THE DEATH OF MAJORITY OF FOREST FIRE VICTIMS
- Embargoed: 21st January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel, Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAE7ZSKVJIBOWMPF6D1BR5K34U
- Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's memorial speech for those killed in Israel's worst-ever wildfire was disrupted on Wednesday (January 5) when bereaved relatives shouted for his interior minister's sacking.
Bodyguards briefly sheltered Netanyahu as a few dozen hecklers stood or stormed out of the ceremony at Beit Oren, a kibbutz at the epicentre of last month's Carmel forest blaze in which 44 people died, most of them rescue personnel.
"He (referring to Israeli minister for interior affairs Eli Yishai who is sitting in audience) is the minister responsible, according to all the reports of the state comptroller he never lifted a finger, and this disaster happened because of him. I am asking you to take him out of the ceremony, he is shameless, this mister should step out of this hall....I am asking you, either you take him out or else I will leave. I don't want to interrupt you sir," husband of a policewoman who perished in the fire told Netanyahu as he was about to speak.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who as the official responsible for Israel's fire services bore the brunt of public outrage at the disaster, left the hall after the first outbursts against him. Netanyahu then resumed his speech.
"My heart is with you all," he said.
The upset was a fresh public rebuke for Netanyahu's rightist coalition government, in which Yishai's Shas, a party run by rabbis, is junior partner. Many secular Israelis have long opposed Shas policies on welfare and other core social issues.
But the broad-based government has weathered such domestic censure as well as criticism from world powers trying to break a deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that followed Netanyahu's refusal to renew a freeze on West Bank settlements. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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