Wounded IDF vets block Jerusalem entrance in protest for better care

Dozens of wounded IDF veterans block traffic at the entrance to Jerusalem, as part of a protest calling on the government to approve plans to provide better care for them.

Before blocking Route 1, the protesters rallied outside the Knesset, with some scuffles with parliamentary security when they tried to move barricades at the Knesset entrance, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

Governmental approval of the Defense Ministry plan for improving the treatment for wounded veterans, called One Soul, is being held up by infighting over funding.

The Defense Ministry’s much-maligned Rehabilitation Department came under heightened scrutiny after a veteran with PTSD, Itzik Saidyan, who had struggled to receive help from the ministry, set himself on fire outside the department’s offices in Petah Tikva last month.