Visiting Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on Thursday, Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman expressed his total support for the hospital, its doctors, and the entire staff treating the chareidi toddler who was admitted exhibiting signs of profound neglect/abuse.
Not remaining silent, Hadassah Director-General Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef asked Litzman why he has remained silent, failing to come out and condemn the violence. He rejected his silence in light of chareidim labeling him and his staff “Mengele” and a “traitor” among other derogatory comments, probing why a government official who is involved in the matter opts to remain silent. Litzman has angered Hadassah and the medical community in general for his lack of support during the entire affair. It was Litzman who fronted NIS 200,000 of the bail money that resulted in the release of the suspect to house arrest.
Litzman responded by explaining that he too came under attack, stating he is not responsible for the pashkavilim.
Rejecting his explanation, Dr. Yoram Blachar, who heads the Israel Medical Association, released a statement that the deputy minister has acted inappropriately in the case, failing to give total support to the hospital, the doctors and the medical community.
The mother, Yenta bas Yocheved, will appear before a Jerusalem judge once again on Thursday. Yesterday YWN reported Dr. Yaakov Weill in his psychiatric evaluation ruled Yenta does not pose a threat to her children.
The state appears equally pleased with the evaluation, stating Yenta is judged to be fine and therefore, she will be indicted and face charges including child abuse and neglect.
In the meantime, Deputy Education Minister Rav Meir Porush continues to exert pressure on the Health Ministry and other agencies, demanding a state investigation into the entire case.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
obviously, porush, is cynically using this to aadvance himself against litzman. litzman is in a tight spot – do the right thing and defend the hospital and lose face in the Haredi world with porush being able to cement himself as king of Haredi/Hasisic street. Gur would find themselves in a pretzel.
Or attack the hospital which is completely immoral but he can at least save face among the lemmings which is much of his potential contituency.
He is trying to walk a fine line and is doing as good a job as possible I think in terms of walking a fine line. Of ocurse it would be nice were he to have guts, but then again that would really be the end of his political career which has already taken a turn for the worse.
Porush, sheyihiye bari, is really somethign else.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he was behind all of the rioting.
When Gur was against him for Mayor I was shocked, but now it seems they were right all along. He is one dangerous dude.
This is what happens when ministers and deputy ministers are politically appointed. Litzman is not a doctor, nor does he have the necessary health-care experience to deal with such a situation. What competence does he have to “look into” the behavior of the hospital. When their claims clash with those of another interested party, on what basis is he going to decide whom to believe?
Let’s hope that Bibi has the good sense to name a health minister, who has years if not decades of health care experience, sooner rather than later.
Dr. Yoram Blachar, acting appropriately means just that, not giving blind support regardless of the circumstances. MK Litzman has steered a careful line between the waring factions. That is acting appropriately. His Torah oath is to the truth not the medical profession.
1. Why does the Health Minister have to protect the Hospital if he thinks they may have done wrong. He is supposed to be protecting the peole. He should be calling for an investigation.
2. Why are they against a state investigation? Obviously they are hiding something.
Perhaps he is trying to be a “Rodef Shalom” which would be excellent politics at this point. As someone who straddles the line between the Hareidim and the Zionists, R. Litzman needs to defuse the matter.
It would be easiest to discover that everything was a miscommunication problem, apologize, and be friends (perhaps the mother doesn’t read Hebrew and the hospital staff doesn’t do Yiddish?).