4 | FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 
J
N

op-ed

How to Better Heal Israel’s Wounded 
E

very day at our 
organization, Yad Sarah, 
we field requests for 
medical equipment and other 
rehabilitation services for injured 
soldiers. Due to the generosity 
of our donors and volunteers, 
we have been able to fulfill these 
requests, allowing 
more than 1,000 
soldiers to date to 
leave the hospital 
and enter home 
rehabilitation, 
freeing up much-
needed beds for 
others.
However, Israel today faces 
the daunting task of treating 
and rehabilitating thousands 
of injured soldiers, police 
officers and other security 
personnel, along with multitudes 
of citizens. As the current war 
continues, the government 
is expecting that between 
12,500 and 40,0000 people 
will be declared permanently 
disabled due to war-related 
injuries.
The Israeli government, 
which funds the public health 
system, was caught unprepared 
for this. According to Knesset 
testimony, on Oct. 7 there 
were only 780 rehab beds 
immediately available and up 
to 1,200 that could be made 
available if all bureaucratic 
and financial obstacles were 
promptly removed. This is not 
enough. It constitutes only 60% 
of the average rehabilitation 
capacity in other OECD 
countries.
Yad Sarah was there to fill the 
gap. However, we are starting to 
feel the pinch. Our reserve stock 
has been depleted by additional 
war needs and the delivery of 
supplies is being delayed due 

to Houthi attacks on Red Sea 
shipping routes.
Israel should have been more 
prepared, especially given the 
rising criticism of its failure to 
properly care for injured soldiers 
and veterans, including those 
with mental health challenges.
However, now is the time 
to look forward. The country 
owes its soldiers proper care in 
order to ensure a bright future 
for them, their families and the 
State of Israel. The system’s lack 
of preparation is a post-war 
subject.
The first thing to do is for 
the public health system to 
make its current shortcomings 
and needs clear. For example, 
the government should be 
more transparent about the 
exact number of injured soldiers.
When these facts are revealed, 
cooperation between the 
government, the private sector 
and nonprofits can be enhanced.
Such cooperation involves 
the government releasing and 
expediting budgeted funds for 
rehabilitation and related care. 
For example, a large rehab 
center at Hadassah Hospital in 
Jerusalem cannot be completed 

until it receives pledged funds 
from the government and more 
contributions from private 
donors.
The government should also 
ensure that proper funding is 
going to Israel’s periphery and 
minority populations, so that 
soldiers can receive ongoing 
care close to home and in their 
communities.
The parties involved must also 
guarantee that psychological 
needs are being met along with 
physical needs. Many who are 
physically injured also have 
PTSD and other mental scars. 
Treatment of the mind should 
take place in tandem with 
treatment of the body.
Mental health should be a 
proactive priority, not something 
left for soldiers to ask about 
themselves, as is often current 
practice. Soldiers’ mental 
health should be evaluated 
immediately, and treatment 
should start promptly, just like 
physical first aid.
This requires greater flexibility 
in the health system, such as 
Sheba Medical Center’s three-
day renovation of an area used 
for geriatric patients — who 

were moved to a different 
part of the hospital — to 
prepare it for the use of young 
soldiers, including common 
spaces, outdoor spaces and the 
integration of mental health 
care.
Treating these needs in a 
comprehensive way also requires 
organizations to work together, 
sharing patients and spaces as 
the injured advance through the 
stages of recovery.
We have seen this approach 
at work, with doctors willing to 
release soldiers from the hospital 
on the condition they receive 
proper equipment and help 
from outside organizations. At 
Yad Sarah, we have provided 
more than 2,500 soldiers with 
medical equipment, including 
wheelchairs, crutches and 
accessible transportation.
Nonprofit and humanitarian 
care organizations should 
focus on the role they can 
play in fulfilling these needs. 
Diaspora Jews, along with 
many others, are currently 
donating money to Israel in 
record amounts. Nonprofits, 
which are an essential part of 
the country’s health system, 
need to set up more programs 
dedicated to rehabilitation 
and tell the stories that will 
encourage more donations. It 
should be emphasized that for 
many injured soldiers and those 
helping them, the rehabilitation 
process will be lifelong.
It is only through cooperation 
that our soldiers and our 
country will be healed. This, in 
turn, will lay the groundwork 
for a more unified, stronger and 
healthier Israel. 

Philip Bendheim is head of international 

affairs at Yad Sarah and a member of its 

Board of Overseers.

Hundreds of Israelis donate blood in Jerusalem, Oct. 9, 2023. 

NOAM REVKIN FENTON/FLASH90

PURELY COMMENTARY

Philip 
Bendheim
JNS.org

