Is Israel's Minister of Welfare both opposed to institutionalization and in favor of it?

Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs Ya'akov Margi

[Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90]

Israel currently has a Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs who is impressively skilled at speaking out of both sides of his mouth. 

When Ya'akov Margi addresses people with disabilities and their activist supporters, he is a passionate champion of their rights to equality. He assures them that he and his staff will endeavor to enable all of them to leave institutions for independent living in the very near future.

He did this in March 2023 at a committee hearing into the report of another committee headed by retired judge Shulamit Dotan. The Dotan Committee's recommendations relate to a new law passed by the Knesset in June 2022: the Welfare Services for People with Disabilities Law, discussed here [in Hebrew].

The committee recommended closing all the institutions for people with disabilities within the next five years and replacing them with solutions within the community. 

It is no surprise that the law's passage was hailed by activists as "dramatic" and "historical" and raised high hopes that Israel would at long last follow the rest of the developed world in shutting down its large, locked, isolated institutions that today house some 18,000 of its citizens with disabilities.

Behind those walls, the basic human rights of these citizens are denied on a daily basis, repeatedly resulting in neglect, abuse and occasionally death.

It is obvious that the new law's achievements will largely depend on the stance of the incoming Minister of Welfare. He will determine the details of the many outstanding regulations that must be established.

One crucial subject, a fraught one, will be budget. Cash will need to be re-channelled away from the institutions to individuals with disabilities.

For years it has baffled many of us who abhor institutionalization that Israel, otherwise such a progressive country, remains in relation to this specific issue mired in the Dark Ages.

It has, however, become increasingly clear that much of the foot-dragging is rooted in the huge profits pocketed by the operators of those institutional facilities. All of the government benefits accruing to the residents of their institutions reach the operators. The Ministry does not trouble itself to demand detailed accounts of the distribution of those funds.

The less those operators spend on staff and care of their residents, the more cash they themselves retain. The many cases of abuse and neglect at those institutions leave little room for doubt about the operators' priorities.

Hence it should not come as a surprise to discover that they exert pressure on politicians to evade the new law and the Dotan Committee recommendations. After all, the status quo is working fine for them.

Usually, though, the public can only imagine the exchanges taking place between those operators of institutions and our politicians.

So it was highly unusual - and shocking - to read of the open assurance made by Minister Margi to one of those operators, less than three months after his address at the committee hearing I mentioned above. 

Image source: The ADI website (Click to enlarge)

Some details:

• According to an early-June 2023 public relations handout, Minister Ya'akov Margi, accompanied by other Ministry officials, visited the ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran rehabilitation village. 
• Alongside its integrated nurseries, rehabilitation center and therapy pool stands a closed institution housing some 163 residents, ranging from children to adults.
• At the conclusion of their tour of the premises which included the institution - or, as it's referred to on the ADI site, the "residential homes" - Minister Margi lavished praise on the enterprise. “I am more than happy to be here today. This place has grown immensely and the entire subject of rehabilitation has blossomed."
• He concluded with these words: “We must copy this village model to other parts of Israel.”

None of this has been reported in the mainstream media yet. Only ADI itself and the B'Hadrei Haredim news site, have publicized it.

But what's abundantly clear is that Minister Margi is eager to spread the curse of institutionalization even further throughout Israel than it currently is.

And the hell with that "historic" new law.

How Israel treats its disabled has been concealed for too long

A version of my opinion piuece below was published by Jewish News Syndicate on January 22, 2023 under the title "Life for Israelis with disabilities is a well-kept secret | For-profit institutions and government neglect have led to brutal abuse and exploitation."

Much has been written about the new Israeli government’s proposed changes to Israel’s immigration laws. This principally concerns the Law of Return, which grants Israeli citizenship to anyone with one Jewish grandparent.

But less attention has been given to another change in aliyah requirements. It affects potential immigrants with disabilities.

Until now, olim with disabilities must physically arrive in Israel before applying for recognition of their disabilities, a demanding and time-consuming procedure. 

Only after this process will they be eligible to receive government disability benefits.

Under the new procedures, they will be able to apply for such recognition before actual immigration.  With their legal rights ensured beforehand, it is anticipated that their assimilation into society will be easier.

This change will almost certainly be enacted. But we do not know whether crucial information will be shared with potential olim during this new process. 

Will they be alerted to what awaits disabled people in Israel? Will they be warned that Israel still warehouses many of its disabled in large, closed and isolated institutions? Will they be informed that the situation with which they are likely familiar in their home countries is a far cry from Israel’s situation?           

In short, will they arrive here with their eyes wide open? 

There are some statistics they would surely like to ponder:

• 88% of Israeli citizens with cognitive impairment who live outside their own homes are institutionalized.  
• 17,000 people live in 491 housing facilities for people with disabilities and special needs. This includes institutions that serve the cognitively impaired, emotionally impaired, autistic and those requiring special rehabilitation. 
• Most Israelis with cognitive impairment and autism live in closed institutions remote from the community, where they are denied the right to autonomy and privacy, and where frequent and severe neglect takes place.
• Some 50% of these closed institutions are operated by approximately 70 different private for-profit companies. The same number of operators are NGOs. Only nine institutions are government-owned.
• Thousands of citizens with disabilities who live within the community do so in difficult conditions of loneliness and without basic services.

These are disheartening numbers that need not be Israel’s reality.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities, which the State of Israel ratified in 2012, declares that the state must ensure that people with disabilities live equally in the community and freely choose their lifestyle.

In June 2022, the Knesset passed a law that anchored the right of disabled people to an independent and autonomous life in the community.  This law will remain dormant until the relevant regulations are drafted, with 2024 set as the target date for its implementation. So, there will be no significant change to the status quo for some time.

This is an under-reported topic. As a result, few know that every couple of months, incidents of severe abuse and occasionally death are inflicted on disabled residents of Israeli institutions. When Hebrew news outlets do briefly cover these stories, they tend not to appear on English-language sites.

Over the past six months, four disabled residents have died, three in one institution due to food poisoning, and the fourth in a brutal attack. Another incident of physical abuse was caught on a security camera this month. The perpetrator of the assault, a nurse, has been arrested.

Unfortunately, police investigations are rarely launched and can drag on interminably. Many are closed without any indictments due to “lack of evidence” or “unreliability of witnesses.” When cases are tried, sentences are rarely more than a slap on the wrist. 

Why are these institutions given free rein?

One theory is that the profits they provide are simply too enticing. Greedy operators intensively lobby politicians to keep these institutions open. Naama Lerner of the grass-roots organization Hatnuah L’atzmaut (The Movement for Independence), explains, 

“Since the advent of privatization, operators of institutions receive between 13,000-20,000 shekels/month per resident and are thus highly motivated to retain them. They hire one carer for ten residents so they spend less than 1,000 shekels/month per resident.”

The Movement for Independence is determined to change that. 

Comprised of activists with and without disabilities, family members, experts and laypersons, the group promotes independent living with personal assistance for every disabled Israeli. However, it is facing government apathy and operators’ determination to continue profiting off disabled people.

An Israel-based non-profit called MDF represents these institutions. It was registered in 2009, but its records at the Ministry of Justice appear not to show any activity. The organization has filed only one annual financial report, in 2012. Its registration document indicates that a former member of Knesset, Yoel Hasson, functions as the director of its lobbying efforts. 

In Dec. 2022, MDF organized a protest outside the Jerusalem head office of the Ministry of Welfare to demand increased funding for the operators of privately owned and operated residential care institutions for people with disabilities.

Naama Lerner, who co-founded and today heads the Movement for Independence, staged a one-woman counter-demonstration to criticize the owner/operators.

She said, 

“Death is the really most extreme case. There are many, many, many problems faced by people in institutions. Let’s start with the ‘soft’ items. The ‘soft’ items are that a person is deprived entirely of his privacy. He doesn’t determine who will sleep with him in his room. He will never have a private room. People who are 20, 30, 40 years old who need a private room, personal closet, personal clothing, a moment to be alone. What do the institutions do to prevent this? They shackle them to beds, isolate them in rooms, tie them to restraint chairs, place splints on their arms so they can’t move their arms. All these things are also prohibited by law.”

She went on, 

“A supported housing program is a very important program, and without a doubt, it is the program that every person with a disability will have in the future. Everyone will have an independence-supporter who will accompany them to an independent life, help them build their personal plan and implement it. But unfortunately, today, with the program’s current budget and the severe limitations it places, it really suits but a few, and particularly those who can manage on their own.”

Another organization fighting for deinstitutionalization is Bizchut, founded by the late, legendary social activist Shulamit Aloni. It also believes in the right of every person with a disability to live in the community in a small and intimate setting granting them a life of equality and respect, personal autonomy and full integration.

Bizchut further maintains that, in institutions and hostels, where dozens and sometimes even hundreds of people with disabilities live together, the ability to maintain these basic rights is not possible.

Neither of the above organizations has voiced support for the change in aliyah procedures affecting immigrants with disabilities.

One of the bodies responsible for the change is the Jewish Agency, headed by Doron Almog. Almog is also, ironically, the chairman of two large, closed institutions—Adi Negev and Adi Jerusalem. 

Almog claims to care about the rights of people with disabilities, to which his many speeches and articles on the topic attest. Here is but one example: “The way in which we relate to the most vulnerable among us, those with disabilities and multiple challenges, constitutes the greatest test of our society. It is only when our societies are able to make the care, development and inclusion of everyone part and parcel of our daily lives that we will truly live up to our own ideals.”

But as we know, talk is cheap and it is actions that matter. Almog’s actions consistently contradict his words. For decades, he has championed and helped raise millions of dollars in contributions for the two institutions he chairs. Together they keep 233 citizens, from babies to young adults, locked up and isolated from society.

So, will Almog and the Jewish Agency provide disabled applicants with the information they need before aliyah, such as the contact details of the organizations that endeavor to help people with disabilities live independent lives with government assistance?

Given the disheartening status quo, it is likely that some prospective olim will postpone aliyah until the 2022 legislation has gone into effect or until the advent of a more inviting scenario.

The alternative is an influx of shocked and unhappy new citizens. Would Israel welcome that?

I am the mother of a fragile 27-year-old Israeli woman who suffers from severe physical and cognitive disabilities, including epilepsy and blindness. Keeping her at home where she enjoys loving care from me and my husband is a struggle. But I have no doubt that had we succumbed to the pressure of her teachers and social workers, and institutionalized her, she would no longer be alive.

Now is the perfect time to publicize the ugly truth about Israel’s treatment of its disabled citizens. The secret has been kept for far too long.

Institutions grab headlines again

Beit Bar Dror in the Israeli news (December 9, 2022)

Naama Lerner, our local unsung hero ("A woman of valor" December 11, 2022) followed up her one-person protest with the update below. 

It's so shocking it sounds scripted. But trust me, Naama doesn't do that. (The translation from the Hebrew source on Facebook is mine.)

On Friday morning a news report was published about food poisoning at the Bar Dror institution in Kfar Saba. Thirty-six out of the one hundred residents came down with diarrhea, and some of them even had high fevers.

Does this news sound painfully familiar to you? If so, it's because a few months ago a very similar article was published about the Beit Dafna Institute. There it ended with the death of three residents. This time, miraculously, no one paid with his life.

But is this incident any less serious because of that?

A side anecdote. As you remember, last week private institutions held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Welfare, demanding additional money and standards. Facing them the Movement for Independence placed signs intended to remind the institution managers of the incidents of neglect, abuse and death that occurred in the last year in these institutions, and of their audacity in demanding money and services.

At some point, some of the protesters began to cross the road and attempt to have a dialogue about what was written on the signs. One of the protesters introduced herself as an employee of the Bar Dror Mossad. She was angry that the signs lumped together all the institutions, and claimed that Bar Dror should not be included with the institutions where residents died due to neglect or abuse, since no untoward events had occurred there and it is exemplary..

"Our facility is different," she claimed. "It operates in an exemplary manner".

Less than a week has passed, and the news about food poisoning at the Bar Dror institution has been published. Need another explanation about the inclusion of all institutions under the same umbrella? Who is next in line?"

And now "hot off the press", an update on that update:

Sanitary deficiencies were discovered at the Bar Dror institution, a hostel for people with special needs, in Kfar Saba. The Ministry of Health today (Wednesday) issued an instruction to close the kitchen at the institution after tests of food samples revealed low levels of Clostridium bacteria and E.coli bacteria. Although these levels do not cause illness, they do indicate poor sanitary conduct of the institution." [Source: Walla (Hebrew)]

It doesn't seem like this institution will be excluded from the inclusive list of "bad entities" anytime soon.

And while we are agreeing on that generalization, note that Doron Almog's "babies" (ADI Negev and ADI Jerusalem) are two more such private, large, institutions enclosing people with disabilities from infancy to middle age. 

But that fact is carefully swept under the carpet. Instead, Almog, now head of the Jewish Agency is touted as a champion of the rights of people with disabilities. 

Here is but one example of many such distortions. Since he became chairman of the Jewish Agency, Almog has been promoting a policy of opening up the world of aliyah to all types of Jews in the Diaspora, including those will special needs. As the Jerusalem Post recently wrote: 

This topic is especially close to his heart, as the founder and chairman of the rehabilitation village "ADI Negev-Nachalat Eran" which has become a model for integrating people with disabilities. 

Which brings to mind Abraham Lincoln's words: “You can fool some of the people all the time; you can fool all the people some of the time; but, you can't fool all the people all the time.” 

Some of us are not fooled about Doron Almog.

A shofar message for Doron Almog

Image Source

On August 16, 2022, Doron Almog took the helm of the Jewish Agency.  

Since his nomination for that position, on June 16, 2022, Almog has been hailed as an Israeli hero. Here is the Times of Israel summarizing his claim to that status:   

Almog, 71, a past head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command, dedicated his life after leaving the military to running a widely lauded rehabilitation village in the Negev desert for people with physical and mental disabilities. ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran is named for his son Eran, who had severe autism and physical disabilities before his death in 2007... [Times of Israel, August 21, 2022]

Since then, hardly a week goes by without a news item about Almog and the Jewish Agency. They have all been unadulterated hagiographies. And occasionally when no such report appeared, he - or his staff - seem to have produced their own. 

So it's fair to predict that some will be enflamed by what I have to say about him.

Almog oversees two large, closed institutions (one of which he founded) named ADI, for people with disabilities ranging from infancy to young adulthood. Its motto: "It’s all in the name: ADI celebrates ability at every level, promotes diversity and insists on inclusion."

He does so despite growing global opposition to institutionalization of this population. 

And he does so despite the recent passage of a new Israeli law that, once implemented, promises to begin the mass transfer of people with disabilities out of the sort of warehouses that Almog champions.

One would have hoped that Yom Kippur and the self examination it encourages would stir Almog to reconsider this major "life achievement" of his. It doesn't seem so when you read his latest op ed, replete with content like this:

"After honoring my late brother Eran who was killed in battle during the Yom Kippur War and my late son, Eran, who was born with severe disabilities, my life philosophy has always been to never leave anyone behind. This applies to my approach regarding aliyah as well. That is because how we treat the vulnerable among us reflects our morality as a society... The absorption of olim should be a national responsibility... We must continue to work, in accordance with the government of Israel, to reunite families and bring olim home, no matter where they are in the world. It is also our obligation to ensure that Ethiopian olim become the absolute best version of themselves. It is what they deserve and what Israeli society needs." ["A full-circle journey: Bringing Ethiopian Jewry home", Times of Israel Blogs, September 28, 2022]

I would remind Almog that much of what he promises to deliver to our new olim has never been provided to our "most vulnerable" as he refers to our population with disabilities.

"Absorption", "reuniting families", is also a national obligation toward those with disabilities who are taken from their families and locked up in large, isolated, closed institutions because the government refuses to provide for their needs at home.  

I am not alone in this assessment. 

Recently an employee at ADI Negev visited (infiltrated?) one of the Whatsapp groups in which I am active. It's designated for people with disabilities, their families and activists in the field.  She said she was soliciting employment as an aide for people with disabilities. But she added her view of ADI Negev: 

"I am referring to ADI Negev, the Rehabilitation Village, a wonderful place for any age with one on one projects and programs." [My translation of the Hebrew source]

And after she received negative responses re ADI, she wrote:

"First of all I didn't request opinions about ADI Negev. The place is not a fortress. It is actually a village, suitable and pleasant for residents happy with many programs and choice and they create gift (sic) and go out and more. I am only asking that if any of you are seeking a worker, for independence with individuals, approach me." [Again, my translation from Hebrew]

Naama Lermer, a disabilities-rights attorney and founder of Hatnu'ah L'atzma'ut ("The Movement for Independence") and formerly of Bizchut, then posted to the same Whatsapp group in response [again my translation of the Hebrew source]:

I know ADI Negev well. I visited there more than once . It's an institution in every sense of the word. Many groups of residents with disabilities. With a uniform daily schedule. Without any real connection to the community. Some of them are cut off from their families because their families live very far away. People who won't experience what it's like to lick an ice cream in an ice cream shop in the mall. To buy clothes in a clothing store. To get on a train and see the view. Adults who spend most of the day sitting with construction games or children's toys. And it's sad. I wouldn't want to live like that. I wouldn't want my children to live like that. So I don't wish that on anyone else. I want more than creative works and children's games for them. I want more than a clean, tidy place. I want a real life for them. Even if their disabilities are very present."

Many of us have just heard the shofar blown at the close of Yom Kippur prayers. In his New York Times op ed this week, the former chief Rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, wrote:

And this is perhaps what the shofar, the ram’s horn that Jews blow on the High Holy Days, represents. According to the Bible, the shofar blow is the sound of freedom. It was historically blown at the beginning of the jubilee year — the year that freed all slaves and returned all sold ancestral property. The sound of the shofar blow is meant to remind us of both freedom and equality.

Let's hope that message will reach those, like Almog, who persist in their perversion of "freedom and equality" to include the warehousing of citizens with disabilities in institutions.

Again: An institution, a scandal, a petition

Entrance to the Bnai Zion institution [Image Source] 

The cases of abuse in institutions for people with disabilities have been piling up in recent days. Yet another petition has been drafted (in Hebrew - it addresses the Government of Israel) and all are invited to sign on here: חתימה על מכתב לרה"מ להקמת ועדת חקירה ממלכתית על המצב במוסדות

Incredibly none of these shocking revelations has moved our government. It is hell-bent on pursuing the path of institutionalization as its first choice of care for its population with disabilities. This was evident in its recent closed-door cabinet session which resulted in yet another extravagant cash gift  [Actually, zero steps forward, January 3, 2022] to the ADI Negev institution. 

The latest abuse scandal took place in the Rosh Ha'ayin institution, B'nei Zion. The police request  to extend the remand of its suspected perpetrators claimed that the latter "physically attacked and abused the wards with disabilities together and separately and even caused injuries." 

The following was the reaction of the police representative regarding the actions of the primary suspect: 

"He allegedly committed shocking acts against the helpless. They were sexual acts, bringing lighters up close to the charges and lighting them, urinating on the charges' beds and strangulation. I have been a policeman for many years and have never before seen such acts. We watched videos and were shocked."

The administration of the institution is also under investigation since it claims to have been unaware of the hundreds of incidents of violence towards the charges although they were recorded by security cameras.

One of the many parents who visited their children after the report said: 

"This is a black day for us. My son is non-verbal and I am unable to ask him if he was beaten."

Gila Bar, whose daughter lives in B'nei Zion, added:

"Everything must be replaced here other than the social workers. Everyone else must go."

Even if you're as pessimistic as I am (and make that very), please do as I did and sign the petition linked above. It certainly can't hurt.

Institutions and abuse - but the funding goes on

Image Source: United Nations

We have learned of yet another instance of abuse against a person with disabilities living in an institution. Once again, it has received no media coverage and laconic police attention. 

The victim's mother reported to the police that upon visiting her son the day after the alleged attack, he had a broken elbow, blue marks, and hemorrhaging on his face and in his eye. The employee "simply beat him up with blows".  

It is truly incomprehensible that Israel remains stuck in its backward attitudes toward institutionalization. Doling out mass cash gifts, for instance, to institutions as it just did several weeks ago. And it did so despite the outcry of Bizchut, the Israeli organization dedicated to defending the human rights of people with disabilities.

In its end-of-year report, Bizchut summarized [see my unofficial translation into English that follows] that now infamous cabinet meeting which authorized the handover of millions of shekels to ADI Negev, the large, closed and isolated institution founded and headed by Major General (Res.) Doron Almog - the darling of Israel's elite and powerful. 

No to Funding for Institutions!

Our first initiative relates to Adi Negev, an institution in the Negev where 150 people with disabilities reside.

A month ago we learned that in a closed  meeting the government will decide whether  or not to allot millions of shekels to its development. 

We do not have and never have had anything specific against Adi Negev, only against the very idea of institutions. 

When people with disabilities live, work and receive services in one place which is designated for them alone - they are isolated/cut off  from the community outside, which deepens their separation from the society. This harms equality. This harms their quality of life. In such a place, they have no control over the most basic decisions in life. 

The State of Israel understood this as well when in 2012 it ratified the international Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which, according to its official interpretation by the United Nations, orders the closure of all institutions.

We Received Word of the Government Meeting only 24 Hours Beforehand and We Understood We Had to Act Immediately

In no time (from one day to the next) we embarked on a campaign which called on ministers to oppose reaching a decision without first holding a communal, transparent, open debate, with the participation of people with disabilities in line with the principle of "Nothing about us without us", which views people with disabilities as an inseparable part of the decision making process. 

We said that it cannot be that the State will allocate millions of shekels to a policy that affects people with disabilities - without hearing them and their representative organizations. We also said that in light of the Convention and in light of the demand that arises on the ground - from people with disabilities and from their families - it is impossible to allocate millions of shekels to institutions. The budget must be allocated toward the development of responses within the community.

700 emails calling for in community living were sent

True, the government ultimately decided to approve the budget increase of several millions of shekels to expand ADI Negev. But we are not discouraged. We will continue to fight with all our strength to advance the right of every person to live within the community. 

One of our goals this year is to anchor in legislation the right to autonomous life in the community with personal aid. 

We will be sharing further details soon.

I'm glad that Bizchut is not discouraged. 

But as I wrote in an earlier post [Actually, zero steps forward, January 3, 2022], the failure of our protests to prevent that cash gift of millions of shekels to ADI Negev, truly demoralized me.  

Actually, zero steps forward

A recent meeting of the Israeli cabinet [Image Source]

Last week, I asked our WhatsApp group of disabilities activists/parents for an update about the scheduled Government of Israel cabinet meeting that was going to discuss a proposed grant of 126 million shekels (roughly $40.8M in US currency) to ADI Negev to fund its expansion. 

The meeting that had gotten my hopes up sky high: "Ministerial scrutiny of Israel's largest institution for children with disabilities?" (Dec. 12, 2021)

Here's the response sent by a member who is also a staff member of Bizchut, Israel's leading disabilities rights organization:

"To our dismay, the government authorized the transfer of funding to Adi Negev. We will continue to fight for a halt to the State's investment in institutions, both large and small and in services that result in the separation of people with disabilities from the community and for its investment of resources towards services within the community..."

There is such a bundle of bad news in that response that I'm still struggling to fully digest it. 

The major message I deduce is this: Nowadays in Israel, "protektzia" - i.e. connections - still reigns supreme. By that I mean it rides roughshod over everything else: morals, ideals, international conventions, progress, the welfare of the downtrodden and of the vulnerable and above all of people with disabilities.

Even in 2022. 

ADI Negev, blessed with limitless protektzia in the form of its founder and chairman Major General (Res.) Doron Almog, clearly sailed through that cabinet meeting where its lavish cash gift was discussed.

Then there was absence of any reactions to that update from anyone else in the WhatsApp group That one has me stumped.

Where is the fury that I feel?

The struggle for equal rights for all will continue. But my hopes for victory here in Israel have been definitively and thoroughly dashed.

Look who's promoting institutionalization now

From the UN CRPD website

Last week I was quite optimistic when I learned of the scheduled cabinet debate regarding the proposed grant of tens of millions of shekels to Doron Almog's ADI Negev ["Ministerial scrutiny of Israel's largest institution for children with disabilities?"].   

I  progressed from that to elation when Haaretz, Israel's leading newspaper, published a piece (in Hebrew only at this stage) about the issue this past Friday [תוכנית להרחבת מוסד לאנשים עם מוגבלות מציתה מחלוקת: האם המקום פוגע בדייריו]. 

True, it was only guardedly critical of Almog and his institution for people with disabilities - but it was critical. And that spelled a sea change in the Israeli consensus. 

In its wake I toyed with this upbeat line for my tweet: "One Small Step - or One Giant Leap?" My more grounded husband assured me it was neither (see my Tweet).

And he was so right. 

Because today, the most powerful man in our government posted a tribute to ADI Negev and a veritable hagiography of Doron Almog. On his Facebook page! That's our prime minister to whom I'm referring. The man who is supposed to be tackling existential threats like Omicron, terrorism, Iran's nuclear activities. 

Yes, he actually found the time to promote the institutionalization of babies and children with disabilities far from their families in large, closed residences. 

And he did that with utter disregard for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The treaty that Israel signed onto and then ratified in 2012. 

Today a more apt tweet would be "One Step Forward, Three Steps Back". 

Bizchut is urging everyone to elucidate the above for the prime minister, Naftali Bennett in a comment on his Facebook page. And yes, mine's already there.