Making a difference
SHE IS aggressive, abrasive, ambivalent and at times annoying, but there is no doubt that Israel Radio’s has her heart in the right place, and through her relentless pursuit of social justice for the weaker sectors of Israel’s demographic mosaic, has in several cases succeeded in effecting change.
Through her Agenda program on Reshet Bet, she takes up causes that are sometimes covered superficially by other journalists, and, depending on which causes, continues to cover them program after program on an almost daily basis, or else she returns to them every few weeks.
One of these subjects that has been running for weeks now is the mistreatment of patients in Israel’s psychiatric facilities. She is particularly concerned about patients who are forced to live in solitary confinement in tiny cells, and are chained to the wall or to the bed because they have been diagnosed (and sometimes misdiagnosed) as dangerous to themselves and to society. Some patients are confined in this manner not just for days, weeks or months, but for years. Neubach has been working on this particular travesty with Israel HaYom’s Health reporter who specializes in exposing corruption, injustice and malpractice in Israel’s health system.
As a result of their combined persistence in dealing with specific cases, conditions for patients have improved considerably – some of them have been unchained and permitted to go outside into the grounds of the facility daily for a limited time period, mattresses have been put on their beds, and they can use proper toilets.
Some of the other issues frequently addressed by Neubach include improprieties in the allocation of public housing, violence and sexual assaults against women, the rights and treatment of the LGBT community, needless harassment of Arabs, and the Yemenite Children Affair.
A researcher whom she had brought on the program said that in the early 1950s, approximately one in every seven Yemenite children mysteriously disappeared. Most, according to their parents, had been healthy, and had been placed in temporary children’s homes where they were visited daily by their parents, especially
Keren Neubach Ran Reznick,
in the case of the youngest children who were regularly weaned by their mothers.
He said that one of the things he discovered in painstakingly going through those protocols – which are sealed from the public – was that children were forcibly taken from their parents, and that the parents were subsequently threatened with loss of benefits, including food rations, to ensure their cooperation.
is also among those who claim to suffer from this affair. According to Alkawi, his sister Shediya was among the infants who disappeared. The family had been living in a transit camp under the most difficult of conditions, and because the camp was lacking in basic facilities, a special children’s home was set up where weaning mothers visited several times a day to feed their tiny tots. One morning Alkawi’s mother was told that her daughter had died. She refused to believe it because there had been nothing wrong with the child when she visited her the previous evening. There was no death certificate, no grave, and no body. But when Shediya reached enlistment age, a call-up notice from the army came to her parents’ home, and later when she failed to report, military police came and searched the house. Voter notifications from the Interior Ministry were also addressed to her. The irony is that Alkawi, whose parents removed him from the children’s home because they were fearful of losing another child, was the one who was left with no “identity”: he never served in the army because he was never called up, and he never received any voter notifications. When he went to the Interior Ministry to inquire why he had been left out of the loop, it transpired that in the ministry’s files he was listed as dead. When he asked for the situation to be rectified, he was refused. Neubach also spoke to
a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office who has been given responsibility by the government to examine the sealed protocols of commissions that investigated the alleged disappearance of Yemenite children, and determine whether they should be unsealed and made available to the public.
Hanegbi personally believes that
Oded Alkawi Hanegbi, Tzachi
they should not have been sealed in the first place, but before making a decision, he said he will listen to experts, including the custodians of the State Archives, who are privy to information contained in all the classified files.
Hanegbi said that he had been aware of the stories of the allegedly kidnapped Yemenite infants since he was a child, and as Health Minister he had initiated a DNA project to see if the DNA of parents who had lost a child matched that of any of the tiny remains of such children who actually had died and were buried.
Hanegbi is gratified that he was chosen to try bring an end to the mystery and tragedy of the Yemenite children. He also told Neubach that he has a special interest in this affair: “Half my genes are Yemenite; the other half are from Bialystok.” FORMER HEALTH minister MK
who became aware of the Australian success in care for the elderly, invited Australian Ambassador to Israel to share information about Australia’s approach to elderly care with the Knesset Health Committee.
The meeting was chaired by Health Minister who is leading the initiative for reforms in assistance provided for senior citizens living at home. In addition to MKs who are part of the health lobby, health industry professionals and representatives of several organizations were also present.
Sharma explained the process of accessing elderly care in Australia, through the single gateway of the My Aged Care website and portal. This was followed by an assessment of the level of support required, and then the formulation of a an assistance package.
Sharma noted that out of some 3.6 million people age 65 and over, roughly 1.1 million Australians were currently accessing some form of elderly care. He said this figure was likely to grow, with the over-65 population
Yael German, Dave Sharma Ya’acov Litzman,
expected to account for nearly 30 percent of Australia’s population by 2050. Sharma noted that Israel and Australia share the challenge of finding a way to support growing elderly populations in a dignified, respectful but also fiscally sustainable manner. No single country has all the answers, he said, adding that he hoped Australia could learn from Israel’s approach as much as Israel can learn from the Australian model.
What impressed the committee most was the level of government funding allocated to elderly care in Australia. The committee was also appreciative of the access and assessment model which absolves applicants from bureaucratic hassles and loss of dignity, and which also saves time as there is no need to physically wait in lines. Australian social welfare models in general are known to be very progressive and well-formulated for those who benefit from them.
A BROAD spectrum of leaders of Israel’s financial institutions and captains of industry along with several well-known lawyers joined
president of the Israel-Switzerland and Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce, at a farewell luncheon at the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel in honor of Swiss Ambassador
who is in the process of completing his term of office in Israel.
As all those present do a lot of international flying, they were extremely interested in the lecture by CEO of Swiss International Airlines, who spoke about unprecedented global innovations in aviation. Among those who came to personally convey their good wishes to Baum were attorney who is the longtime dean of the Consular Corps; fellow attorneys
Hamburger, Andreas Baum, Avner Gordon, Gad Naschitz, Gideon Hanina Brandes, Ze’ev Weiss, Anita Livnat, Alon Kaplan, Uri Asher, Zvi Jakubowicz, Shimon Mizrahi Haim Samet,
and plus a good representation of Harel Insurance and Harel Investments, including
Yair Hamburger, Michel Siboni Ronen Agassi.
and Although it was essentially a social occasion, given their respective interests, participants autobiography Muhammad Ali’s