Santiago – Israel on Tuesday offered to send a delegation of experts to Chile to provide assistance in reforestation after the devastating fire in the country’s Torres de Paine National Park.
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Rotem Zinger, a young Israeli backpacker, has been held on suspicion of accidentally starting the fire. Zinger denied that he had anything to do with starting the blaze.
A statement put out Tuesday by the Foreign Ministry said Israel expressed “solidarity with the Chilean people in its sorrow for the damage” caused to the park, located in southern Chile.
“Israel has also experienced a similar disaster last year in the Carmel forest, and that painful memory enhances our sense of common destiny,” the statement said, noting “the deep friendship the Israeli people feel toward Chile is as strong as ever.”
The statement said that Israel was ready, “if appropriate, to donate tree seedlings for the rehabilitation of the park.”
Methinks that somehow Israel doth protest too much.
Alternatively, it seems (to me, at least) that by so demonstratively offering assistance to Chile after one of its nationals has been suspected of starting the fire it is admitting guilt.
I really would like to be proved wrong, though.