Israel's Ministry of Welfare is still concealing information

The ministry's Jerusalem head office [Image Source]

Here in Israel, we are still anxiously awaiting a significant drop in the upsurge of Covid-19 infections, to enable an easing of our restrictions. And to think, just a few months ago we led the world with our low Covid-19 stats.

In the meantime, the wall of silence I have hit remains intact [see "Freedom of information"]. There is no sign that our government will enlighten us about our Covid-19 victims with disabilities any time soon. 

The Ministry of Welfare (משרד העבודה הרווחה והשירותים החברתיים to give them their full and current name - translates to Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Services which no one ever calls them) was legally obligated to provide us with the information we seek by October 10th, under the Freedom of Information Act.

But it's a safe bet that the "check isn't even in the mail".

So we remain in the dark about "segmentation", to use the Ministry's favored term... meaning we still don't know the names of the institutions in which those victims were locked.

Not only is the public entitled to that information, for many parents of children with disabilities it is crucial.

As this pandemic stretches on, many parents are left in a quandary. Should they keep their children at home or relinquish them to institutions, as our government urges us all to do? Should they struggle to provide their children with the specialized care and therapies they need or hand them over to government subsidized, large, closed institutions where such amenities are purportedly provided?

Before Covid-19 struck, professionals the world over maligned those institutions for robbing children of the love, attention, constancy and emotional stability that every child deserves and needs. But now, in the Covid-19 era, it could well be that removing a child from his family will actually endanger his very life. 

Bear in mind that most of them are at high risk for being severely ill with the virus. It has been proven that those with neurological impairment or genetic mutations are in the high risk category.

Life in a large, closed facility with rotating care-givers is obviously not the ideal setting for avoiding Covid-19 infection.

Once the holiday season is over and this strict lockdown is eased, I hope that the Ministry of Welfare will fulfill its obligations to release the information it has been concealing for so many months.