Facing criticism, Haifa hospital reinstates Israeli flags for Independence Day
Director of Carmel Medical Center overrides directive to remove banners, issues apology
The director of Haifa’s Carmel Medical Center overrode an order by management to remove Israeli flags from two hospital departments, saying Saturday that the flags would stay in place as Israel marks its annual remembrance and independence days this week.
On Friday, Hebrew media reported that the hospital administration sent a message to department heads ordering them to remove flags and decorations for Independence Day, which begins Wednesday evening, so as not to offend the city’s large Arab population.
The report generated controversy, prompting Goldberg to issue a statement on Facebook saying the flags would stay up.
“I would like to make it clear that the directive to remove flags hung in two departments at the hospital was wrong and does not reflect my opinion and my administrative guidelines,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said he was abroad last week when the decision was made to remove the flags and said that from the moment he heard about the decision he ordered the flags to be left in place, calling the order to have them taken down a “misunderstanding that I can only regret and apologize to those who were offended.”
Goldberg noted that the hospital had been preparing to mark the event including hanging up flags “as we do every year, and in the best tradition.”
“All of us at the hospital respect our national symbols and are proud of our flag,” he said.
The initial directive prompted the hospital workers union to warn Friday that it would take action if the move wasn’t rolled back, the Walla news site reported.
MK Oded Forer of the Yisrael Beytenu party had threatened to seek to cut the hospital’s budget, saying “management should take responsibility and decide whether it is running an Israeli or Palestinian hospital.”
Founded in 1945, the 500-bed facility serves Israel’s third-largest city of 300,000, whose population is one-fifth Arab.
The Times of Israel Community.