MK (Yahadut HaTorah) Moshe Gafne in a Knesset plenum address stated the chareidi community in Eretz Yisrael is the constant target of discriminatory practices regarding budgetary considerations and in other ways as well.

Gafne spoke of the original explanations that accompany the discriminatory policies, including claims the chareidi community is technically challenged, at a disadvantage regarding skills and knowledge in secular subject matter. He added that in international studies aimed at evaluating the level of students around the world, Israel continues to slip in the rankings while the chareidi community repeatedly exhibit’s a higher than average aptitude in the test scores.

“When they begin ousting chareidi medics who respond to save lives that is the limit. There are no more [acceptable] answers. They simply do not want us. They do not want the chareidi community. If this were to occur in Ramat Aviv we all know what would happen nationwide but when it occurs in chareidi communities, there is silence”.

Gafne, who is very close to the Ichud Hatzolah organization, stated that he has met with Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman in the hope of arriving at a solution pertaining to the conflict between Hatzolah and Magen David Adom. He stated that if negotiations fail, he will legislate a bill intended to circumvent the current MDA Law that places the responsibility for the nation’s emergency medical services solely in the hands of MDA and will open the door for additional agencies such as Ichud Hatzolah to operate independently.

NOTE: While there is much legitimacy to the Ichud Hatzolah claims, YWN has been investigating the growing chasm between the organizations and a major bone of contention surrounds the changeover from the beeper (pagers) in use to day to the MIRS push-to-talk system.

This system works with a GPS satellite and permit’s the system to locate volunteers within a response radius to a call anywhere in Israel, while those persons out of range will not receive the call. This is a major sore point for Hatzolah volunteers for their stream of information will be cut off, as MDA wishes, in an effort to begin controlling the non-ending leak of information since at present, all pagers receive all calls. Many a chareidi news agency obtains much of its information from MDA pagers.

MDA feels there is no need for anyone other than responders to be involved and the new system permits such a response. In the event of a major mass causality incident, the system can activate additional responders are well.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)