Bennett clashes with bereaved mother at Modi'in election event over Tzafit disaster

A question regarding Transport Minister Miri Regev sparked a heated confrontation on Thursday between Naftali Bennett and an audience member during an election event in Modi'in. An attendee asked whether Regev should pay a political price over the FlyDubai affair. Bennett responded by calling Regev the most failed transport minister in the country's history, adding that the incident demands a commission of inquiry and that Regev must resign. To illustrate the severity of the incident, Bennett described a scenario in which a terror attack could have succeeded, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Israelis.

The Clashes Over Accountability

At that point, the questioner identified herself as Rotem Bar Shalom, the mother of Ilan, who perished in the 2018 Tzafit stream disaster during Bennett's tenure as education minister. She asked why Bennett did not resign back then and why he failed to oversee pre-military preparatory academies, claiming he adopted a "safety permits" approach and knew about the "Wild West" atmosphere prevailing in those academies. She also asserted that he opposed establishing a commission of inquiry and that during a meeting with bereaved parents, accompanied by three lawyers, he explained how to avoid litigation. "If today you want a commission of inquiry, why didn't you agree to one then?" she asked.

Bennett replied that after the disaster, he met personally with all ten families, stating he "did not dodge" and that he attended the inquiry committee. He claimed his stance was "the exact opposite of today" and that he conducted an independent investigation himself. Bar Shalom interrupted, arguing that the committee was established against his will. Bennett maintained he agreed to its formation, to which she retorted: "You are lying." Ilan's father, Uriel, joined her in shouting "liar," and the two walked out of the hall.

Historical Context of the Tzafit Disaster

In April 2018, ten trainees and candidates from the "Bnei Zion" pre-military academy were swept away and killed in a flash flood in the Tzafit stream, while Bennett served as education minister and the academies fell under his ministry's purview. Reports indicate Bennett met with the families about eight months after the disaster. An internal inquiry committee headed by Shlomo Aharonishki revealed severe systemic failures. The parents insisted on an independent body, and eventually Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a government inquiry commission about a year after the tragedy, which concluded that oversight of the academies was minimal to nonexistent.

In a 2022 interview with Walla, Sarit and Itzik Orr, parents of Ella who also perished in the flood, stated: "Bennett opposed the inquiry committee because he wanted to continue his political ascent... He said he didn't believe in commissions of inquiry." Bennett himself admitted in his testimony at the time: "I must admit that from the outset I did not think the current committee needed to be established." Nonetheless, he later claimed that "it is good it was established." Furthermore, when asked why he did not take responsibility and resign, Bennett stated: "I took responsibility long before. My role is to make things move with as few heads rolling as possible. As the head of an organization, I am responsible for what I know and what I don't know. Operations were in line with tradition. A minister cannot be a universal expert."