Dealing with cluelessness

Screen capture from the published Aleh video clip

I never cease to be amazed by the utter cluelessness of our decision-makers about the needs of people with disabilities.

Yesterday, our State Comptroller, Matanya Engelman, visited the Aleh branch in Ofakim, Aleh Negev. He donned the standard "blinders" that Israel's leaders persist in wearing when assessing the lives of our most vulnerable.

Consequently, the risks and suffering entailed in housing large numbers of children and young adults with disabilities in large, closed facilities eluded him.

He is patently unaware of the global move to transfer that population to families within the community in the rest of the developed world [see "The case for de-institutionalization in the COVID-19 era"]

These were the parting words of praise that he wrote in the Aleh Negev guest book:

"Blessings from the bottom of my heart for your impressive, empowering work for the good of the population of people with disabilities in the Negev. With your blessed achievements you constitute a model for the rest of Israel's society. Be blessed and expand your activities. I consider it important to tend to the needs of the population with disabilities, especially in the perphery. We in the Comptroller's office focus on these aspects of society in order to be the ears and eyes for those populations deserving of advancement."

This uninformed attitude towards people who desperately need government intervention is disconcerting, to put it mildly. This is especially true now, in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic.

In stark contrast, here is a Facebook post of People With Disability Australia dated August 1, 2020:

The spread of the COVID-19 in congregate living situations like aged care facilities, and now in a Melbourne group home, really emphasises the need for people with disability to be supported to live independently.
People who live in group homes often do not get to choose where they live, who they live with, how many people they live with, or who is assigned to support them.
Social distancing is much more difficult in congregate living situations with a lot of people coming and going, including staff, visitors and residents. This is a public health concern for everyone involved.
People with disability have been identified as particularly “vulnerable” to this potentially deadly illness. If only we all had the freedom to decide who, and how many people, we have contact with in our own homes.
We have made a submission to the Disability Royal Commission regarding the need to end group homes. You can find it here.

You can observe the conditions of Aleh Negev's residents in a video clip which the Aleh PR team considered worthy of circulation.

Remember this is a scene which was not concealed because of the crowding, dearth of staff, absence of social distancing or lack of stimulation. Rather, it was proudly posted on Aleh's Facebook page several days ago - online here. The relevant scenes are at 0:06, 0:07, 0:18

Meanwhile I have lodged an official request with Israel's Agency for Freedom of Information for the segmentation-by-institution of the COVID-19 data I received from the Ministry of Labor and Welfare recently and that I published in my July 29, 2020 post [here].

Hoping that I can share that with you soon.

Netanyahu and another thwarted extradition

Litzman and Netanyahu [Image Source]

There has been much written about Netanyahu's role in Israel's failure to extradite alleged sexual predator and pedophile Malka Leifer to Australia. His recent appointment of ultra-Orthodox Yaakov Litzman as his next Minister of Health has outraged many, particularly Australians.

Litzman is suspected of assisting Leifer's evasion of justice in his previous capacity as Deputy Minister of Health. There are widely publicized claims that Litzman pressured psychiatrists who examined Leifer to testify that she was mentally unfit to be extradited.

Several state psychiatrists determined that Leifer was feigning mental illness and was fully capable of facing trial, despite her lawyers' contention that she is mentally unfit. But a major setback occurred when a court-appointed psychiatrist recanted his assessment that she was mentally fit. Israeli police have determined that Litzman, one of the most powerful ultra-Orthodox politicians in Israel, was behind efforts to pressure the psychiatrist to change his assessment. They recommend Litzman's indictment for fraud and breach of trust.

Yet this is the man that our prime minister has selected as his next Minister of Health! Two weeks ago the government dutfully approved Litzman’s appointment.

From Haaretz:

The president of the Zionist Federation of Australia published a letter on Sunday protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision. And the Australian Jewish community is united in its fury over the matter. ZFA President Jeremy Leibler called the appointment a “slap in the face” of the Australian Jewish community, the Australian people, Australian immigrants in Israel and most of all, Leifer’s alleged victims.

However despite the in-depth media coverage garnered by the Litzman-Leifer affair, little is known about Netanyahu's role in another case where a criminal's extradition to stand trial is being blocked. This one involves Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, murderer of 16 Jews, among them our chld, Malki. Her extradition is being demanded by the US from Jordan.

Jordan has refused to abide by the 1995 extradition treaty it signed with the US and which the US explicitly states is valid and binding. Little pressure is being exerted by the US State Department on Jordan to reverse its decision to give that alleged murderer - Ahlam Tamimi - refuge and the freedom to incite her millions of fans to follow in her footsteps. She accomplishes that through her intense TV and social media presence.

One man we can thank for this travesty of justice is Prime Minister Netanyahu. He executed the now maligned Shalit Deal in 2011. Despite our desperate attempts to prevent Tamimi's inclusion in that catastrophic "deal", before its execution, Netanyahu has never made any contact with us – not before, not during, not after that deadly transaction.

We heard nothing from him when he decided – against the clear stated policy that underpinned the Shalit Deal - to let the fiancé of our child’s murderer cross the Jordan River and be united with her. And then just a few weeks later, to marry her in a wedding that got huge Arab media attention.

Freed in the 2011 Shalit Deal, Ahlam Tamimi is currently
a fugitive from US justice [Image Source: FBI]

When the US authorities decided to seek the arrest and extradition of Tamimi from Jordan once the Shalit Deal was done and to have her face terrorism charges in Washington ["15-Mar-17: Sbarro and justice"], Mr Netanyahu remained publicly silent.

However people we know in Washington told us influential US officials had given them to understand – strictly off the record - that the Netanyahu government was opposed to having Tamimi handed over to the US for prosecution by the Department of Justice.

Our understanding is that Mr Netanyahu not only ignored us at every step, ignored the letters we arranged to be delivered into his hand, ignored the pleas we made to keep her in prison. More than that, and while we can’t prove it, it appears he actively undermines our current efforts to see her brought to justice under US law. 

Netanyahu's infuriating conduct before, during and after the Shalit Deal will obviously never result in any criminal charges like his other misconduct has.

However, it would behoove all voters to consider the above when they vote in March. Do you really want the champion of mass murdering terrorists to continue ruling us?