From bluster to blunder

JK Rowling of Lumos [Image Source]

It was bound to happen eventually. When you churn out the PR bluster ad nauseum, the occasional blunder is unavoidable. 

So when the team at Aleh related how the recent Gazan missile barrage impacted residents of Aleh Negev, they described that institution as "the only birth to death residential facility in the world for those with the most severe special needs" [archived here in case it disappears].

The wording is so egregiously grotesque and crass that I am baffled to see nobody at Aleh has scrambled to delete it. As I type this, it remains posted on their partner's Facebook page.

Aside from the abysmally poor choice of words, the claim that there is no such institution anywhere in the world is also puzzling. There are plenty of such warehouses in impoverished third world countries. Lumos, J.K. Rowling's organization ("Children belong in families, not orphanages") endeavors tirelessly to close them all down. 

True, such warehouses have, for the most part, already been eradicated in the rest of the developed world. But is Aleh truly conceding that its dumping ground for children with disabilities is the last one of its kind extant in the enlightened world? 

If so, then I must pronounce them, this once, truthful to the point of self-indictment.

A bad idea dressed up as good news

The caption in the original article [here] reads:
"The cornerstone-laying ceremony for ALEH’s forthcoming
Neuro-Orthopedic Rehabilitation Hospital in Israel’s Negev region"

Much hype has been circulated recently by Aleh’s tireless PR team about the groundbreaking ceremony it held on January 3, 2017 for a neuro orthopedic rehabilitation hospital. It will be situated in Israel’s south, a region notoriously lacking in medical facilities. 

Everybody is, justifiably, elated that the long-suffering residents there will finally enjoy the services they deserve. Here is some of the coverage it received:

“ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran is a flagship project in JNF’s major plan for the development of the Negev. Through our fundraising efforts, JNF supports and enhances this remarkable village and will now continue to support the planned Rehabilitation Hospital at ALEH,” said Eric Michaelson, JNF’s chief Israel officer. “The village is attracting doctors, caregivers, teachers and others, stimulating the local economy and with the new hospital will continue doing so,” he said. [JNS, January 5, 2017]

But there is a thorn in this good news. The fact that such an essential medical project is being undertaken by Aleh, Israel’s largest chain of warehouse institutions for children with disabilities, and at its Ofakim-based Negev residential ("village") facility, should raise red flags.

Israel’s government remains alone among developed countries throughout the world in its persistent and lavish funding of such large, closed institutions. The $24 million that it grants to Aleh annually leaves precious little cash for families that love their children with disabilities so much that they want to keep them at home.

The policy that Israel has adopted – promoting, supporting, funding and granting awards to institutions for people with disabilities – translates into the rejection of other options of care. Admittedly, most people who stand up and tout care at home and in the community for people with severe disabilities are shouted down in Israel. “How can you suggest that parents keep such children at home?” “Do you have any idea what an enormous challenge that is?” “Walk in the shoes of such parents for a day before you spout such nonsense!”

The thing is that my husband and I have worn those shoes continuously for twenty-one years. We are painfully aware of what the care-at-home option entails. We know other Israelis like us in this country who have chosen the same path. We also know that some parents who have deposited their children in institutions like Aleh probably would have reconsidered had they been afforded greater government assistance.

Instead, our closed institutions devour the lion’s share of Israel’s cash for children and adults with disabilities. As Aleh’s promotional material (see this Facebook link, and a November 2016 article entitled "ALEH: Tikkun Olam in Action") boasts, "parents pay nothing" toward the care of their institutionalized children!

Aside from the monthly stipend we receive from Bituach Leumi, the government of Israel's National Insurance Institute – which covers mobility, medicines and basic medical needs - we receive no financial assistance toward caring for our child at home. According to the Aleh website, the care of children at Aleh costs $4,300 per month per child, of which 83% is government money. This policy effectively penalizes citizens who choose not to hand their children over to the care of strangers.

The damage that institutions cause to their residents is no secret. Reams of medical research results have been published lambasting that care solution. So why are our decision makers ignoring them?

Enabling Aleh’s closed institution to be the conduit and venue for essential medical services is a bad idea. Developing the depressed economy of Israel’s periphery on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens is a bad idea. Entrenching the enterprise of institutionalization at the cost of in-community and family life is a bad idea.

My husband and I are planning to produce a video clip demonstrating how we live with our daughter Chaya at home. We intend to film her and other people with profound disabilities who, in Israel, would normally not enjoy the love and warmth of family life. If you too have chosen this option for your child or know somebody who has and are interested in participating in this project, please contact us.

As the week of 9/11 ends

News report of last week's commemoration in Jerusalem
[Image Source]

I remember well the day of the horrific terror attacks on the United States fifteen years ago on September 11th.

Still raw from the murder of our daughter Malki one month earlier, I was certain, the world would now empathize with our victimization at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Israeli pundits discussing the attacks on TV reached the same conclusion. Israel is no longer isolated, they proclaimed. It has gained  allies in its war against terrorism.

Hmm. Not exactly the way things panned out. We are still isolated. We have few allies. And we certainly aren't embraced by other victims of terrorism as a member of their "club". (My husband wrote about his experience with "the club" here - under the sub-heading "A European encounter".)

The brand we are plagued with - as opposed to the rest of the Western world - is deemed the justifiable sort of terrorism that goes by euphemisms such as freedom fighters, protesters, rebels and resistance activists.

Nevertheless, as in the past, the Israeli government has chosen to commemorate 9/11 very intimately - as if we had been victims that day along with the US. That in itself is commendable. Five Israelis were among the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks and most Israelis feel an affinity for the American nation. Moreover, the JNF monument, called The 9/11 Living Memorial, is the only monument outside of the United States that lists the names of all the victims.

What is odd - some would say deplorable - is that Israel's remembrance of 9/11 and respect for its victims has exceeded that of its own terror attacks and victims. In 2009, a memorial [see Wikipedia] listing all of 9/11's victims was erected by the JNF in Jerusalem.

A memorial with the names of the hundreds of victims murdered by terrorists here in Jerusalem was promised to us fourteen (!) years ago - and has never been built. Here is what the designated site looks like today:

Photographed at the Machane Allenby site in Jerusalem yesterday

I was shocked to re-read what I had written about this site thirteen years ago ["No memorial, not even a plaque", Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2003]. It seems the previous year, a group of bereaved parents had sent the Jerusalem municipality an attorney's letter which eventually resulted in a meeting and in an assurance that plans were already underway to erect a central memorial at the Machaneh Allenby site on Hebron Road, on Jerusalem's south side. They assured us that representatives of the families of terror victims would henceforth be active partners in all relevant decisions by the municipality.

I wrote this in 2003:

When I visited the Mahaneh Allenby site last week [nine months after that meeting] the litter had proliferated and the weeds had grown taller, but no other changes were evident... The site of this intended central memorial stands today pretty much the same way it has stood since it was originally landscaped and terraced about four years ago.... A manager in the City Engineer's office recently conceded to us that the project is headed nowhere because it lacks a ba'al habayit - an internal champion- who will promote it, raise the necessary funding and ensure it goes somewhere."

The trend toward marginalizing Israel's terror victims stems from the highest echelons of power here. Otherwise, the reluctance to remember our victims in public, in full view of pedestrians and tourists, would not be so extreme and persistent.

This week we heard our prime minister spew his predictable banalities at a 9/11 cabinet meeting:

“We remember the victims. We embrace their loved ones. We stand with our greatest ally, the United States of America, and with other partners in the battle against militant Islamic terrorism that spreads its fear, its dread, its murder around the world,” [Via the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry]

Let's all bear in mind that Netanyahu has chosen to embrace their loved ones while ignoring those of his brethren. He has demonstrated nothing but disdain for the victims of terror residing in the state he rules -  treating our pleas, our letters, and our loved ones' right to justice in the context of the Shalit Deal with utter disregard. And he has certainly done nothing to promote the construction of a public monument naming all of Jerusalem's terror victims.

At the same time, he has pandered to Hamas terrorists, satisfied some of their most extreme demands - to wit, the Shalit Deal - and is dedicated to making life for Hamas prisoners as comfortable as possible within the  limits of incarceration. (I addressed this in a post last month: "Fifteen years on, there's no relief from the grief".)

Perhaps you *can* fool everyone all of the time

[Image Source]

Aleh has begun spreading its disingenuous tentacles beyond Jewish and Israeli media. And, true to form, they tell the standard Aleh fairy tale.

In this instance, it was the Huffington Post on January 24, 2016 with a piece ["How Developmentally Disabled Adults Are Transforming Criminals in Israel"] that had originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post six months earlier [here].

It hailed Aleh Negev's "one-of-a-kind program... to help rehabilitate nonviolent inmates by having them volunteer with developmentally disabled adults residing in the rehabilitation village in the Negev." (I wrote about that in a previous post.)

It goes on: "The goal is to give these prisoners during their jail time a set of tools to help them when they return to society and a new perspective on life,” explained Orna Ben-Tal, who helps direct the program in the South."

It is baffling that the Huffington Post  would promote a program that - everyone concedes - does not exist anywhere else in the world and benefits convicted criminals on the backs of individuals with disabilities.

The conundrum deepens in light of the fact that only a two months earlier, the Huffington Post published [here] a piece lauding J.K. Rowling and her determination to end institutionalization throughout the world.

Harry Potter author and Lumos founder J.K. Rowling reflected recently about a visit to an orphanage 10 years ago: “I was shown into a room full of totally silent babies. They had learned that crying brought no comfort and their lack of interest in eye contact was eerie. The photographer wanted me to smile; I wanted to cry.”
Soon after, J.K. Rowling launched Lumos as an international non-profit organization to bring an end to child institutionalism worldwide by 2050. Lumos works with governments to strengthen families and build community services, such as inclusive education, health care and social services that help vulnerable families to stay together.

One can only scratch one's head when champions of inclusion and equality for people with disabilities swallow Aleh's gobbledy gook.

Just last week we learned of another such dupe, Nina Paul of Cincinnati, Ohio, the national president of Jewish National Fund’s Women for Israel (WFI) campaign since October 2015.

Here [link] is what she thought of Aleh:

As it turns out, inclusion is a highly personal cause for Paul, whose son Max had a rare brain tumor removed at age 8 and has gone on to live with behavioral issues. Paul also grew up with a brother who was born with brain damage. After moving Max in and out of various facilities around the country, Paul says she realized there was “no magic bullet out there” for him. He has now lived at home for eight and a half years and benefits from constant two-on-one professional care.
What Paul says she wishes Max had earlier in his life was a facility like Aleh Negev-Nahalat Eran, a rehabilitation village and JNF partner organization that serves people with severe disabilities in southern Israel.
“When I came to Aleh Negev, and I saw this facility, the beauty of the place and the wonderful people and therapies they offer, I just started to cry, because I said, ‘My God, had we had this kind of a facility in the [United] States when I was searching…it would have made a huge difference [for Max].’ And that’s when I said, ‘OK, this is where my heart is in the work I do with JNF,’” she says.

Why on earth a mother who has chosen to raise her disabled child at home and advocates actively for inclusion would cry for joy at the sight of Aleh Negev is anyone's guess.  An institution remote and distant from any broader community and from the residents' families is the last solution you'd expect such a woman to laud.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. It's fair to presume that her tour of that institution - let's call a spade a spade; that is what it is, not a facility and not a village - was brief and selective. She probably wasn't told by her guides that young children, even babies, are taken from their parents and siblings to live out their lives in that large institution. Her guides probably didn't share with her either that millions of government dollars are poured into Aleh coffers while parents who choose to love and care for their  impaired children at home must struggle with pittance.      

Two crying women inspecting institutions for children with disabilities. But tears of two very different  sorts. I know which sort well up in my eyes every time I am subjected to Aleh propaganda. How about you?