Yehuda Hayisraeli was seriously wounded in the fighting during Operation Protective Edge and today, two years later, he cannot return home. The Defense Minster will not authorize building the necessary ramp for him to be able to live home because he is a settler.

Hayisraeli is in the Givati Brigade’s elite Sayeret Rimon and he was injured on that black Friday in Rafiach when Lt. Hadar Goldin HY”D was abducted via a Hamas tunnel. He was hit with shrapnel in his head and was in a vegetative state for months. B’chasdei Hashem he recently began to show cognitive signs of communication with his surroundings.

His family has requested ramps in the Yishuv Ofra home to permit Yehuda to return home but he is stuck in the rehabilitation facility because of the refusal of the Defense Ministry to accommodate this simple request. Defense Ministry officials explain that the building in Ofra lacks certain registration in the nation’s ‘Taba’ land registration and therefore, in the eyes of the Defense Ministry the home is illegal and therefore, it cannot accommodate the request.

Channel 10 News correspondent Ohr Heller explains the Defense Ministry simply will not build a suitable home to accommodate his needs over the Green Line until special permits are given. At present, the home is not wheelchair accessible so Yehuda cannot return. Realizing something must be done, the Defense Ministry has decided another new structure will have to be built near the family home to accommodate Yehuda since his home is ‘illegal’ and cannot be modified. However, the family explains even this has not happened. Nothing is moving forward.

When asked to respond to the Srugim report, Defense Ministry officials explain “The family has requested funding the construction of living quarters in the yard of their existing home. The request was moved to the appropriate committee this week in an effort to assist above and beyond the letter of the law since there is no permit to build”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)