Arab-Israeli Doctors Suspected of Denying Treatment to Jewish Terror Victims
by David Daoud
Arab doctors working for Israel’s health system are suspected of having declined to treat the Jewish victims of a stabbing attack that took place outside the clinic, Israel’s Channel 2 News reported on Thursday.
The attack occurred in the Old City of Jerusalem, right near a Clalit Health Services facility on October 3.
It was carried out by 19-year-old Mohammad Halabi, who murdered Rabbi Nehemia Lavi (41) and Aharon Banita-Bennett (22), and wounded Bennett’s wife, Odele, and their two-year-old son, Natan.
The suspicion that the doctors stood idly by as Bennet and Lavi lay dying in the street, despite being fully capable of providing crucial medical assistance, has given rise to a comprehensive probe into the clinic’s conduct at the time of the attack by Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.
If the suspicions prove to be true, Litzman says, those who refused to treat to Bennett and Lavi should be brought to justice.
According to Channel 2 News, the clinic was open at the time of the attack. Though designated for the service of east Jerusalem’s Arab residents, its staff is required to provide medical help to any patient in need.