Magen David Adom officials on Sunday afternoon canceled its kinnos which was viewed as the EMS’ response to the recent Ichud Hatzolah kinnos which was attended by over 1,000 volunteers and rabbonim.

On Sunday, without an official explanation, it was announced that MDA Carmel Region Chief Shimon Biton sent a message to area employees and volunteers, explaining the kenos is canceled.

MDA officials did not attribute any significance to the cancellation, but some are saying the order to cancel the event “came from above”.

MDA officials according to most accounts are less than pleased by the Ichud Hatzolah ‘uprising’, realizing the organization’s manpower represents a significant percentage of MDA responders in certain areas. On the other hand, the nation’s MDA Law places sole control of the nation’s EMS services in the hands of MDA, including licensing authority as well as operating an EMS and allied services.

For United Hatzolah (UH) to leave and continue responding to calls, it would indeed have to rely on chareidi elected officials to legislate new laws, as was already hinted to by MK (Yahadut HaTorah) Moshe Gafne, who has been a close supporter of UH since its inception, indicating in his harsh statements last week that if UH cannot find a comfortable home under the MDA umbrella, he and his colleagues will do what is necessary to pass new laws to permit UH to become an independent entity.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)