Public health staff plan strike if overhaul not halted – report
Union to discuss potential work stoppage at emergency meeting Thursday evening, amid reported consensus among medical professionals on matter
Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel
Staff at public hospitals and clinics plan to go on strike if the government doesn’t halt its controversial efforts to overhaul the judiciary, according to a report Thursday.
Unnamed officials within the Israel Medical Association told Channel 13 that there is a consensus among public health workers on the matter. It was unclear at what stage of the legislative process the potential stoppage would be called.
An emergency meeting of union representatives is set to discuss the potential move at a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday.
According to the report, the strike is being considered after criticism was expressed Tuesday by doctors in the White Coats protest group against the union for not doing enough to highlight the damage the government’s proposals may cause to the public health system.
In case of a strike, hospitals and clinics would operate on a weekend schedule, providing emergency services but not elective procedures.
The IMA said in a statement Wednesday that it is “following with concern what is happening in the country.”
“There is no doubt that the unilateral steps being taken, including the sweeping elimination of ‘reasonableness’ for elected officials, and the implications for the health system, is one of the main issues that will be discussed tomorrow,” it said.
The passage of the “reasonableness” bill in its first reading in the Knesset was followed by the “day of disruption” protests Tuesday. The bill was hardened from its original version on Wednesday in a parliamentary committee.
It bars courts from invalidating or even discussing government and ministerial decisions based on their “reasonableness,” and now now explicitly states that the court cannot touch decisions dealing with appointments or decisions to refrain from exercising an authority, such as not convening committees.
Over a thousand doctors on Thursday penned a letter to the union’s chair, Zion Hagay, urging him to declare a strike until the “complete trashing of the overhaul,” charging that the plans will harm “the quality of medicine in Israel, will harm patients, and undermine the great achievements of Israeli medicine.”
“We are not ready to turn into the intellectuals, scientists, and educated of Germany in 1933,” the letter read, likening potential consequences of the overhaul to the Nazis’ purge of intellectuals during their rise to power.
Hundreds of medical students also issued a plea to Hagay to call a strike over the proposals: “It will cause a brain drain, Israel’s academic isolation, and allow political officials to take control of medical education and research in Israel.”
The European Public Health Association and Association of Schools of Public Health in the European region, umbrella groups representing regional medical unions and educational programs including those in Israel, also expressed concern over the legislation in a letter to Hagay.
Citing another letter by doctors in June, the European groups urged Hagay to consider the important role courts have in ensuring “the implementation of health-promoting policies.”
“While we recognize that this may not always be a comfortable situation for governments, having such a mechanism is an important safeguard to ensure the health of the public as well [as] autonomy and professionalism in medicine, something that we are sure that you value in the same way that we do,” the letter read, adding that the moves may “set a very bad example for other countries where the rule of law is weaker.”
The warnings of harm to the medical sector join similar warnings issued by high-tech workers, economists, lawyers and military officials, all cautioning that the legislation — if passed — would harm Israel’s democracy, economy, and security.
Protests have roiled the country since Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the overhaul package in January, less than a week after the coalition took office.
Since compromise talks collapsed in June, the coalition has focused its legislative efforts on passing the reasonableness bill before the close of the Knesset’s summer session at the end of the month.
The Times of Israel Community.