Israel has been in turmoil for the past several weeks, after it became clear that the newly installed government, with Binyamin Netanyahu at its head, did not waste time to declare war on the Israeli Justice system and announced a series of far-reaching changes that would severely limit the Supreme Court to operate and perform its function in a proper democratic system. The outcome of this crisis is still far from clear, but the determination of the politicians involved, in particular the current Justice Minister, Yariv Levine, has many segments of the Israeli population worried.
But isn’t it often the small, unimportant events that happens without most people being even aware of them, or care about them, that gives a stronger picture of the real situation, the basic mood in the country?
A little over two weeks ago, it was reported in the press, that a young Palestinian, living in the Occupied West Bank, but with a permit to work in Israel proper, was injured when a glass door in the store that he worked at in Kyriat Gat, shattered and cut his hand. After trying to deal with it by himself, the young man decided to wait for his employer, but a passerby, who saw him outside the store, bleeding profusely and clearly in pain, stopped and took him to a health clinic just hundreds of meters away. Arriving there, people in the clinic, who knew him from the store, asked about what happened and a secretary took him to the nurses’ station to stop the bleeding. However, before he even got there, the manager of the clinic, a woman identifying herself as Ortal, asked to see the young man’s identity card. When he responded that he did not have anything on him, the manager refused to let him into the clinic and refused to let him receive treatment before she could ascertain that he is authorized to be in Israel at all, after all, he is a Palestinian. Protest by others in the clinic and by the passerby who brought him to the clinic were to no avail and in the end, the latter took him to the hospital in Ashkelon where he was treated and released later that day.
In the aftermath of this story, the HMO that owns the clinic was contacted but no clear repercussions against the manager Ortal were announced, nor did the HMO even admit to any wrongdoing. A petition that was circulated on-line with signatures demanding the condemnation of the behavior of the manager by the HMO, had trouble reaching its goal of 9,000 signatures and in the end the whole story was forgotten. Except of course by the unfortunate young Palestinian who needs now to deal with both an injured hand, (which will heal) and the recognition of the blatant racism against him.
Indeed a minor event in the turbulent world of Israel society, but how minor is it really? How often do similar things happen, to similar people without it reaching it the press? Or is racism really an irrelevant matter in Israel today, that is not worth reporting or acting upon? Shouldn’t it be expected that the HMO would at least have reprimanded its manager, and maybe even dismiss her for her blatant discriminatory behavior?
The politicians working to destroy the Judicial system in Israel are aiming to change Israel into a dictatorship or maybe even worse, a Halachic state, but minor incidents like what happened to the young Palestinian destroy the basic human relations that keep the society together. But maybe basic human relations are only for Jews in today’s Israel?
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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