Dozens of MDA Hatzolah volunteers were called out on Friday night shortly after 8:00pm, informed to man ambulances and contact the MDA dispatcher. They were instructed to head towards Allenby Bridge, reportedly due to an accident. Only about 30 minutes into the response did they understand that they were responding to an accident that occurred hours earlier, and they were to be involved in transporting patients in non-life-threatening condition to Israeli hospitals.
About 10 Hatzolah [frum] volunteers eventually found themselves among the ambulance crews waiting four hours at Allenby, reporting it was most uncomfortable, the massive chilul shabbos, cigarette smoking and observing their non-frum colleagues granting media interviews.
Some of the volunteers told the media that they are more than a tad upset for having been called out for a situation that does not involved pikuach nefesh in any way, adding they are taking the matter to Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman. They are accusing MDA of exhibiting a total disregard for their religious lifestyle and lacking the most minimum degree of respect for shomer shabbos volunteers.
They explained the seriously injured were transported by chopper from Jordan and the ambulance transports were in no way pikuach nefesh and the chilul shabbos was unjustifiable.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
Any Jewish patient in a Jordanian hospital after a well-publicized accident is definitely in danger of attack by the many non-friendly elements in that country. Are we sure this was not pikuach nefesh?
Nonesense. You can’t pick and choose your calls. There are more than enough volunteers that are not Shoimir Shabos. If an MDA member has an issue with going on calls that don’t suit him/her for whatever reason, don’t volunteer.
#1, the Jordanian police was certainly all around the hospital, guarding them.
#2, I agree with you also.
It’s difficult to judge either side after the incident.
I obviously write this with specific knowledge of the real facts in many of the cases, and seeing the exact…..DELETED….
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