Israel in worst-ever mental health crisis amid ongoing war, says minister
At Tel Aviv conference, Uriel Busso promises to upgrade mental health system; survivors and the bereaved share stories, encourage people not to be afraid to get help
Reporter at The Times of Israel
Eleven months after the start of the war, the country is in the midst of its worst-ever mental health crisis, Health Minister Uriel Buso said at the Enosh Mental Health 2024 Conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Buso announced that because “our reality has changed,” ministry assistance to HMOs to treat mental health issues will double to about NIS 600 million ($162 million) in 2025.
“We are experiencing the largest mental health event the state has known since its establishment,” Buso said. “A crisis that requires us, as a state and a society, to change perceptions and upgrade the public mental health system.”
He added that the ministry “has to focus on actions that create resilience.”
Dr. Hilla Hadas, CEO of Enosh, organized the one-day conference because of the national emergency situation.
“We have to plan ahead to make sure that the country is ready for the day after,” Hadas said. “We won’t solve all the problems and we know there will always be surprises but we need to be prepared.”
A broad swath of experts, including representatives from academia, government ministries, local authorities, the IDF, philanthropy and mental health organizations, focused on the current state of mental health and well-being against the backdrop of the war, along with the urgent need to strengthen the mental health system in Israel.
“Today, mental health is the most important issue in the healthcare system,” said Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, Director-General of the Health Ministry.
More than 400 people attended the conference. The mood was somber as First Lady Michal Herzog spoke about the grief the country shared over the killing by their Hamas captors of six hostages, abducted alive by Hamas on October 7, and whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday.
She said that it has been a “very difficult time,” adding that the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages, “have become our friends.”
She said she had learned from a survivor of the October 7 massacre — when over 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the border from the Gaza Strip and rampaged murderously through southern areas, killing over 1,200 people — that out of “grief comes growth.”
Reut Stoller, a strategic manager in the field of resilience and well-being, added that there has been a “major shift” in the field of philanthropy toward mental health. “We keep trying new initiatives,” she said. “We can’t lose the momentum.”
Haim Jelin, from Kibbutz Be’eri, former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, spoke about how people can understand natural disasters, earthquakes for example, but “this monstrosity is inexplicable.”
He said that when social workers, the “soldiers of the soul,” ask what kibbutz residents need, “we still can’t answer.”
However, he added, “Despite the pain and suffering, helping others gives me strength. Hope is contagious and it can help heal.”
Chen Goldstein-Almog spoke in a steadfast voice about how terrorists swarmed through her Kibbutz Kfar Aza home on October 7, shooting and killing her husband, Nadav, and her 20-year-old daughter, Yam, before kidnapping her and her three surviving children into Gaza.
She and her three surviving children remained captive for the next 51 days until they were released on November 26 as part of a weeklong ceasefire deal. “It’s important for me to speak about what happened,” Goldstein-Almog said.
Sharing the panel with her was Ofri Levy Zemach, whose husband, Shachar, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s rapid response team, was killed fighting the Hamas invasion.
Zemach said that their two children, who are now 3 and 5, “stop in the middle of a fun game and ask very difficult questions.”
“They ask me, ‘Why didn’t Abba [Daddy] say goodbye?’ Or, ‘Why did he leave us?’” Zemach recounted.
Both women said they get “all kinds of psychological help and activities,” but, Zemach said, “This is a very difficult process that won’t end.”
Hadas told The Times of Israel that despite the “very complicated situation,” it’s important not to say “the country is in trauma.”
“That doesn’t help us,” she said. “It’s vital that we look at what we can do, how we can be proactive.”
Attending the conference was Yeshitu Shmuel, CEO of Wustet Zega, an organization that offers psychological help to people of different cultures.
“Ethiopians don’t know about Western psychology,” she said. “Instead of saying they’re in distress, they might say they have worms in their head or ants on their arms.”
The organization serves as a bridge to explain to social workers and psychologists how to reach people from different cultures who have been in need since the war and encourages people not to be afraid to get help.
The conference made it clear to her colleague, Roman Feriede, that “government bodies need us to reach the people.”
She said hearing the speakers highlighted how much need there is. “This awareness is helping us continue our work,” she said.
