At hospital, IDF chief visits family of PTSD-afflicted vet who set himself alight

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi visits Sheba Medical Center, where PTSD-afflicted veteran Itzik Saidyan, who set himself alight yesterday, is hospitalized in critical condition.

Saidyan, who is recognized as disabled due to his PTSD following service in the military during the 2014 Gaza war, self-immolated outside a Defense Ministry office that handles the rehabilitation of injured soldiers. He has burns all over his body.

Kohavi hugs Saidyan’s mother, Lydia, and tells the family: “The IDF owes a big debt to those who risk their lives and well-being for the state.”

Meanwhile, the founder of a nonprofit that helps PTSD-afflicted soldiers decries government aid on the matter as insufficient.

“Until something moves, we won’t believe the promises,” says Ido Gal Razon of Fighters for Life. “Why don’t they give treatment to someone begging for it? People can’t even enter the rehabilitation ward, the security there is as heavy as at Ben Gurion Airport.”