MK (Yisrael Beitenu) Yulia Malinovsky on Monday, during a session of the Knesset Health Committee, claimed the chareidi public is intensifying the spread of measles in Israel because so many of the community refuse to vaccinate.
During a discussion of the committee she said, “So many are primitive and ignorant regarding worldviews and in the name of Torah and religion, they refuse to be vaccinated and believe in all kinds of trivial things”.
She did not stop there, but the MK in Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s party also accused the chareidim of maintaining gender separation, even in health clinics. “The chareidim also have segregation in kupat cholim with men on one side and women on the other. How can they be vaccinated like this?”
Bayit Yehudi party chairwoman MK Shuli Muallem attacked her for her harsh remarks and said she was engaging in cheap populism and accused her of smearing the chareidim.
פעם האנטישמים באירופה העלילו על היהודים שהפיצו את האבעבועות השחורות.
עכשיו בוועדת העבודה הרווחה והבריאות – ח”כ @YuliaMalinovsky מאשימה את החרדים בהתפרצות החצבת.
חבל שדיון בעל חשיבות לאומית הופך למוקד רדיפה. pic.twitter.com/idgvXGgtEF— שולי מועלם-רפאלי (@Shuli_MR) October 22, 2018
“How dare you slander an entire public here? What ignorance! Rabbis call on the public to be vaccinated. The problem of non-vaccinating exists in all Israeli society. Why do you take a professional, public health debate in order to raise political capital? Where’s your shame? Where were you at the beginning of the debate,” Muallem fired back.
Muallem added in a tweet, “The anti-Semites in Europe once blamed the Jews for spreading the smallpox, and now the Labor and Welfare Committee – MK Malinovsky accuses the chareidim of the measles outbreak. It is a shame that a discussion of national importance becomes a focus of persecution.”
MK Malinovsky responded: “Only yesterday, the Mako news website published a worrisome statistic that about half the measles patients – at least from the cases identified so far – occurred among the chareidi populations. This is a research statistic and not my invention.
במאקו פרסמו שמעל למחצית מהנדבקים הם חרדים, גם מאקו אנטישמים? משרד הבריאות הציב עמדות חיסון מיוחדות בשכונות החרדיות, גם משרד הבריאות אנטישמי? את תמשיכי עם הפוליטיקה הקטנה והצביעות ואני אמשיך לדאוג לשלום הציבור.
— Yulia Malinovsky יוליה מלינובסקי (@YuliaMalinovsky) October 22, 2018
“Beyond the search for ‘guilty’, as a rule, it is important for me to clarify my position on the subject – one who chooses not to vaccinate himself or his children, acts negligently and irresponsibly and endangers an entire environment. Pregnant, the elderly … It’s enough to lie, pretend enough, and the unethical public and its leaders must take responsibility and act according to the recommendations of the Health Ministry.”
MK Yinon Azoulai of Shas slammed Malinovsky’s words and said: “MK Malinovsky’s foolish words attest to total ignorance and a mistaken worldview.”
Azoulai added: “It is a shame that in order to earn her political fortune, Malinovsky chooses to slander an entire public”.
“I expect Mrs. Malinovsky to apologize for her grave remarks, the sooner, the better”.
On Wednesday, YWN published a story about a measles outbreak in New York, with 6 residents of Williamsburg and seven residents of Rockland County confirmed to have the disease. An additional eight suspected cases in Rockland County were being investigated involving a mix of adults and children. Many are linked to recent travel to Israel which has been dealing with the disease for months.
Three weeks ago, YWN reported about the Menahel of Breslov Mosdos in Tzefas having been infected with the measles. He was listed in critical condition at the time of the news story.
There have been dozens of stories published by YWN in the past few months of measles alerts issued by authorities involving Frum people who have not been vaccinated.
Last Wednesday, YWN published a story about a measles outbreak in New York, with 6 residents of Williamsburg and seven residents of Rockland County confirmed to have the disease. An additional eight suspected cases in Rockland County were being investigated involving a mix of adults and children. Many are linked to recent travel to Israel which has been dealing with the disease for months.
On Thursday, the Visnitz Monsey Girls School announced that any child who is not immunized, can’t return to school for 21 days. No “religious exemption” is accepted. A religious exemption does not work when there is a measles outbreak.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
I fully agree with her regarding the negligence of going un-vaccinated. I hear what she is saying about gender separation in clinics but I’m not sure how that relates to vaccination or healthcare. She should respect that a segment of the Jewish population wants to sit separately (even outside the shul or Beis Medrash), unless it affects others.
“Gender Separation” as when public schools used to have separate entrances for boys and girls
ought to go back there!
As far as I can tell, the main (loudest) voices in the anti-vaccine world come from Hollywood personalities, and very few of those can be described as “Haredi”! Some of the loudest aren’t even Jewish at all. Wikipedia states that Jennifer Ann McCarthy is Catholic. And as far as the medical profession is concerned, the main voice had been (the now discredited) Andrew Jeremy Wakefield, who is hardly “Haredi” and I find no evidence he was even Jewish.
As is (or should be) known statistics are easily manipulated. Pick on a narrow focus and statistics can be made to look anyway you want. For example, why pick on measles and a narrow time frame and narrow location. How about mumps? The ncbi web site states as follows:
> In Israel, 262 mumps cases were registered between 1 January and 28 August 2017
> The most affected ethnic groups were Arab Muslims (69.8%), Jews (14.9%) and Bedouin Muslims (13.7%).
As, in round numbers the Muslim population is about 20% and Jews about 70% (the other 10% are various small or mixed groups), it is rather telling that 20% of the population gives rise to 70% of his disease. That certainly is way more telling than the alleged 50% of measles for the alleged Haredi (where I suspect the definition of “Haredi” as probably including simple or marginal “Orthodox” and perhaps all “settlers” as well).
From the newest member of Yisroel Beitenu:
On Wednesday, YWN published a story about a measles outbreak in New York, with 6 residents of Williamsburg. . . Many are linked to recent travel to Israel which has been dealing with the disease for months.
Three weeks ago, YWN reported about the Menahel of Breslov Mosdos in Tzefas having been infected. . . with the measles. . .
There have been dozens of stories published by YWN in the past few months of measles alerts issued by authorities involving Frum people who have not been vaccinated.
Unfortunately one well known rosh yeshiva in the USA has come out against vaccinations!
R’ Chaim Oizer in Vilna was asked about the Mir bochurim not listening to the roshei yeshiva in their decision to take visas and try to leave. He said that in situations like this Daas Torah is not relevant. (heard this from the person that spoke to him.) The same probably applies here.
GET VACCINATED!!
The stupidity is with the MK who casts aspersions over the entire Chareidi tzibur because of some anecdotal reports of non-vaccination among a few local communities. In the U.S., where I am more familiar with the data, the largest growth in the non-vaccination crowd are among college-educated suburban moms who have seized upon some fake science to justify their actions. The goyim here also have some of their own fringe elements among fundamentalist cults who won’t get vaccinated but they are some of the same crazies who won’t accept any form of medical intervention.
She has a point. Will people in the frum community do better?
Georgeg says:
Wikipedia states that Jennifer Ann McCarthy is Catholic.
———————-
Try to stick to better source then wikipedia.
Wikipedia also says that the world is millions of years old.
I would think that even if the percentage of non vaccinated are equal across the board in Israel (I don’t know if this is the case or not), the Frum population which has more kids per family (and more babies too young to vaccinate) would be more susceptible to a measles spread.
But since she’s outed herself by complaining about segregated Health clinics, which is no deterrent to vaccination at all, we don’t need to debate her with the facts.
georgeg is correct in writing that this phenomenon is hardly limited to chareidim and Yulia Malinovsky should be ashamed of her cheap, populist libel.
On the other hand, we should be ashamed of the fact that *any* of our community believes in this modern superstition of antivaxxing. Appropriate histadlus in protecting the health of our (and other) children is to follow the consensus of advice from competent doctors.
In order to scientifically determine the safety profile of a drug, you need to compare a control group that receives an inert placebo to an experimental group that receives the substance you wish to evaluate. There has never been a comprehensive, large scale, long term, safety study comparing all health outcomes between a fully unvaccinated population and a vaccinated population, not in one vaccine and certainly not in the myriad of vaccines that have been pushed since the 1986 vaccine injury compensation act which removed product liability from vaccine manufacturers.
Not only is the science not “settled”, it has never been done.
The epidemic and exponential rise of Neurodevelopmental disorders, Psychiatric disorders, Autoimmune disorders, Infertility, and Cancer, in our community, and in the greater society is undeniable. A small group of courageous scientists and researchers around the world have questioned the dogmatic assumption that vaccines are safe and they have found that it is indeed a dogmatic belief not based on empirical evidence. Additionally government regulatory agencies have been shown to have falsified and covered up epidemiological data which indicate safety problems.
silentmoishe,
Matter of fact R’Portnoy and the others who went to get the Visas received strong disapproval
The Jews also poisoned the wells.
Oh wait! That was medieval Europe 700 years ago…
More likely everything that was being worked under the Russian noses
and conspiratorial atmosphere made any authoritative decision too difficult to weigh
Plus that Elder Great senior bochurim
were perceived as a collective Daas Torah
@godalhadorah:
For a change, I agree with your opinion!!!
THE RUSSIAN PARTY CATERS FOR THE ANTISEMITIC SLAVS WHO WERE ALLOWED INTO ISRAEL UNDER CHOK HASHTUT!
THE ZIONISTS ALWAYS WANTED A NORMAL STATE. THEREFORE YOU MUST HAVE ANTISEMITES