Israel picks up the bill

January 5, 2009 - 3:17 PM by DavidS · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Medical Breakthroughs, Politics, War

While the news is full of Israel’s “crimes” against the civilian population in Gaza, here’s one “crime” you probably haven’t heard about. Israel routinely admits residents of Palestinian Authority controlled territory into its hospitals – and the Israeli taxpayer foots the bill. Not only that; Israel even helps pay for treatment of patients in PA hospitals, where the patient never even comes near an Israeli hospital!

While many of us probably have heard of exceptional cases of Israeli doctors treating PA Arabs, I, and probably you, were under the impression that it was limited to high profile or complicated cases, such as the Save a Child’s Heart Foundation – with ill PA residents coming to Israel as a last resort. That kind of thing has been going on for a long time – even during the current war, as evidenced by the photo (courtesy of the IDF spokesperson), captioned “Injured Palestinian receiving medical treatment by Israeli and Palestinian medical personnel at the Erez crossing.” 010109injured2_b

But Israel’s contribution to the health of Palestinian Authority residents goes far beyond emergency assistance; according to some folks I interviewed for a story on a new database system being developed by an Israeli software company for hospitals in Bethlehem and Ramallah (an amazing story in and of itself!), Israel’s Health Ministry often pays for care of PA residents both in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority itself!

The company building the database, called i-Rox, is located in Bnei Brak, and consists almost entirely of ultra-Orthodox women programmers (this story just gets better all the time!). According to the company’s CEO, the programmers are building in a component that allows PA hospitals to share their information with Israel’s Health Ministry, because in some cases, Israel’s health funds help provide – and pay for – treatment of patients in PA hospitals.

Yes, I had a hard time believing it too – until I Googled this World Health Organization PDF document. According to this eye-opening reporting (for 2006-7), “Approximately 60,000 Palestinians from the West Bank area have been treated in Israel hospitals over the past year. Around 20,000 were hospitalized, and about 40,000 received ambulatory services of all sorts. Approximately 5,000 patients from the Gaza area have been treated in Israeli hospitals over the past year – about 2,000 hospitalized and about 3,000 receiving ambulatory services of all sorts. Among the patients receiving medical care in Israel, approximately 2,500 were children, the majority of whom received long-term treatment for cancer and complicated operations.”

As far as Israel providing services to PA hospitals, “Public health laboratories at the Israel Ministry of Health continue to regularly provide assistance to the Palestinian Health Authority in the way of laboratory tests for poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, influenza and other viral diseases,” the report says. Israel – via the health funds and the Health Ministry – continued those tests throughout the year, “in spite of the fact that the Palestinian Authority delays or halts payments.” Of course, the anti-Israel forces out there have never let themselves get confused by the facts – but at least we know the truth, and in this day and age, that’s no small feat.

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Tags: Bethlehem, Bnei Brak, doctors, Gaza, hospital, i-Rox, illness, Palestinian, patient, programmers, Ramallal, Save a Child's Heart, taxpayers, ultra-orthodox, women

Israeli Emmys

September 23, 2008 - 5:25 PM by Jessica · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Pop Culture

Now Israel can boast about a new kind of successful export after “In Treatment,” based on the Israeli series “B’tipul,” took home two Emmy awards on Sunday.

The popular psychodrama series scored Emmys for actress Dianne Wiest, who won the award for best supporting actress in a drama series, and Glynn Turman received the Emmy for guest actor in a drama series.
“B’tipul,” which follows a psychoanalyst through his week, was created by Hagai Levi, who is now one of the executive producers of “In Treatment.”

The role of the therapist in “In Treatment” is played by Gabriel Byrne, while Israeli actor Assi Dayan (yes, the son of general and the black eye patch-wearing Moshe Dayan) played the role in the Israeli series. Wiest’s role was played by Israeli grande dame Gila Almagor in “B’tipul.”

The two Emmys are definitely a coup for Israeli television, and, as Israeli producer Zafrir Kohonofsky commented to me recently, perhaps a new version of Zionism, as this kind of exported culture allows Israel to show what life is really like over here.

I’m not sure “In Treatment” can do that, as the American version is an Americanized take on an Israeli concept. But one of Kohonofsky’s shows, “A Touch Away,” also recently purchased for American development by HBO, is a Romeo and Juliet story dealing with the relationships between a Russian immigrant family and an ultra-Orthodox one living in the same apartment building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak.

Kohonofsky told Ynet “certain changes” in the show’s original format “will naturally be made… but ultimately the American version will be very similar to its original counterpart.”

Those changes will remain to be seen, but I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with Bnei Brak.

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