The symbol of the protest against legal reform is the clenched fist, which thousands marched under while carrying huge tarpaulins bearing the symbol. Some may have believed they were participating in non-violent civil uprisings, but it was and still is a soft military coup. While there are no tanks on the streets yet, many reservists were conscientious objectors. Without the putsch, legal reform would have progressed as planned. However, the refuseniks’ victory has resulted in a minority imposing its will on the majority with the help of the army.
The reservists’ reluctance softened the target, but the crushing attack on the government came from the Histadrut, major workers’ unions, and some employers in the economy who announced a wild general strike. The entire strike was illegal, and among the strikers, there were actual criminals who intentionally harmed Israel’s weakest citizens, the sick. The Medical Association also struck down medical services in Israel, causing incalculable damage to patients who weren’t treated, condition worsened, or died.
The Medical Association claims to be a non-political professional association, yet doctors are subject not only to labor laws but also professional ethics and the doctor’s oath to treat patients entrusted to their care. Nonetheless, some doctors chose to walk out of their workplaces to protest, calling themselves the “white coats.” Some reserve doctors also announced that they would leave wounded IDF soldiers on the battlefield without a doctor because they are not ready to serve a dictatorship.
The Medical Association then wildly and without warning shut down medical services in the country. While the chairman claims the decision stemmed from a historic and unprecedented crisis in the life of a nation, his eagerness to join the rebels exposed the political face of the strike. Many of the other protest leaders demanded separation of religion from the state, the end of the occupation, and other unrelated demands. The strike ultimately harmed the fundamental values of medical ethics, the quality of medicine, and actually the medical service by intentionally closing clinics and hospitals and abandoning patients.
One cancer patient wrote that the strike caused the postponement of her MRI examination by two months, delaying her treatment, surgery, and oncologist’s evaluation. More patients were hurt by the opponents of the reform’s clenched fist, those who swore to take care of them.
A sign that read “Doctors are fighting for the life of democracy” was attached to the entrance door of the pediatric intensive care unit at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, raising concerns about the politicization of medical care. Doctors are supposed to treat patients, not make the intensive care unit stand for political or ideological awareness.
The clenched fist is the clear symbol of the protest against the legal reform. Under huge tarpaulins bearing this fist marched thousands. Some must have believed they were carrying out non-violent civil uprisings. But it was and still is – a soft military coup. There are no tanks on the streets (yet), but many reservists were conscientious objectors. Without this putsch, legal reform would have progressed. Many of the refuseniks must be patting themselves on the back and celebrating a victory, but their victory has meant that the State of Israel has become a country where a minority imposes its will on the majority with the help of the army.
The reservists’ reluctance was the softening fire on the target. But the crushing attack on the government was provided by the Histadrut, the major workers’ unions and some of the employers in the economy, who this week announced a wild general strike. The entire strike was illegal, but among the strikers there were also actual criminals, who deliberately harmed Israel’s weakest citizens: the sick. The Medical Association (RA) has also, in a wild move, struck down medical services in Israel. The extent of the health damage caused to patients who were not treated, whose condition worsened or who died – cannot be quantified or estimated.
The Medical Association declares that it is a non-political professional association. This is how all labor unions in Israel should be. But doctors are subject not only to the country’s labor laws but also to professional ethics and the doctor’s oath, to treat at all times and without discrimination the patients entrusted to his care. This week the Medical Association broke this oath – for clear political needs. This is an indelible stain on the white coat.
A few weeks ago, a group of doctors joined the fight against the legal reform. They walked out of their workplaces to protest, shamelessly calling themselves the “white coats”. Since they numbered only a few hundred, they could hide behind the excuse that they had not abandoned their patients, and that their friends who remained in the clinics and hospitals were filling their place.
There were also dozens of reserve doctors who announced that they would not come to serve, that is, they would leave the wounded IDF soldiers on the battlefield without a doctor, because they are not ready to serve a dictatorship. Even if they are sure that Israel could become a dictatorship – is a doctor in the Chinese dictatorship, in Russia, or even in North Korea Exemption from his doctor’s oath? Allowed to abandon his patients?
But this week something happened. No more hundreds of protesting or refusing doctors – the organization representing all doctors wildly and without any warning shut down the medical services in the country. The chairman of the RA, Prof. Zion Hagai, wrote: “We recently reiterated that the Medical Association is an apolitical organization. We represent doctors who come from all over the country and from all over the political spectrum. But we are not in a political event… we are in a moment of a historic and unprecedented crisis in the life of a nation. In a last attempt… to bandage the bleeding wound before we have to turn off the monitor. That’s why we will not be satisfied with stopping the legislation without more substantial content.”
What medical ethics allowed him to abandon patients at a time of “unprecedented historical crisis”? And in his eagerness to join the rebels, he also exposed the political face of the strike. He was not satisfied with stopping the legislation, which was apparently a protest lawsuit, but demanded “a more substantial content”. And like him, many of the other protest leaders were also exposed. One demands the separation of religion from the state. Second – the end of the occupation. A third wants to spread leaven in the hospitals on Passover, and a fourth, from the leaders of the rebellion, who openly said: We will not settle for less than the overthrow of the government.
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A few days before this wild shutdown, the Medical Association distributed an internet “poll” among its members. The doctors were asked to express agreement or opposition to the following statement: “The RA is a professional and scientific organization of doctors that has goals and values and is committed to protecting the rights of patients and the rights of doctors, the health system… as well as basic values of medical ethics, justice Social, compassion, equality and mutual help. A functioning and ethical health system must rely on a democratic regime and a strong and independent judicial system that guarantees that the rights of the patients, the doctors, and the health system – will not be violated.”
Prof. Zion Hagi hastened to announce that 90% of the doctors supported this political statement – a Soviet result also known from other dictatorships. There are doctors, out of the hundreds who opposed the politicization of the RA, who suspect that the results of the “referendum” were rigged. But even if we accept the far-fetched assumption that 90% of the country’s doctors oppose the reform – nothing in this statement allowed the Medical Association and its chairman to harm the fundamental values of Medical ethics, the quality of medicine, or actually the medical service – through a wild political strike, closing clinics and shutting down hospitals. The thousands of doctors, most of them dedicated and loyal, were not asked if they agreed to harm their patients through a strike.
Shai Shlomi, a cancer patient, was informed on the day of the strike that her important examination, which had been waiting for several months, was canceled due to the doctors’ strike against the reform. This is how Shlomi wrote: “Hello to all the brave protesters, hello to the doctors who take care of patients in the last days. I have cancer. Chemo, radiation and all this abundance. Call me now, no matter from which well-known hospital, to inform that because of the strike that is justified to know parts here, an MRI examination which is supposed to be performed tonight and I’ve been waiting for it for months, it was postponed until the end of May. What does this mean? That I can’t receive treatment right now. Because it’s impossible to perform surgery without the results of the test. Because the oncologist can’t tell me if I’ve responded to the treatment until now, or if they actually developed metastases God forbid. Everything will now be postponed for another two months. And during this time I will sit and wait.”
It must be assumed that Shay is not the only one who was hurt by the clenched fist of the opponents of the reform, and in this case – the fist of the one who swore to take care of him.
The doctors’ protest sign against the reform (photo: screenshot)
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This week I saw a photo taken at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. A sign was pasted on the entrance door to the pediatric intensive care unit that read: “Doctors are fighting for the life of democracy.” The photo was taken by a doctor who did not want to be identified. Probably a fear of harassment from the sign stickers. What should she feel if her child is lying across this door, and she happens to belong to the majority of the people who elected the government that promoted the reform? Is it desirable that the attending physician does not know how she voted in the elections? After all, the doctor swore to treat every patient regardless of religion, race, religious belief – or political view, so why did he decide to declare to the patients and their families what his political position is?
And even if they roll their eyes and declare “this is democracy, not politics” – they know that at least half of the public sees the protest as a political act. And doctors are supposed to treat patients, not make the intensive care unit stand for political or ideological awareness. How dare those who attached the sign to bring politics into this Holy of Holies? And how does a young doctor feel who does not agree with the political view of his superior, when it forces his opinion on him upon entering the department?
In the intensive care unit in Hadassah, I treated wounded IDF soldiers, civilians who were burned in terrorist attacks, and terrorists. Yes, terrorists too. Would anyone think of sticking a “Death to terrorists” or “A Jew does not expel a Jew” sign at the entrance to the burn unit? Blessed be the hands that tore the sign off This one, but the ugly stain cast on the white coat will not be so easy to protest.