Israeli Nurses Strike Over Violence Against Medical Staff

Posted by African Examiner Asia, Latest Headlines Thursday, December 16th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Israeli Nurses Association (INA) on Wednesday declared a 24-hour strike in all hospitals and clinics nationwide in protest of violence against nurses in the country’s health system.

Ilana Cohen, Chairperson of INA, in a statement demanded the immediate implementation of a government plan to eradicate violence against them in hospitals.

“This is a serious situation for years, in which the state abandons the nurses without any means of protection against the incessant violence in the health system.

“It is very sad that those who are on the medical front for everyone day and night, including the fight against the Coronavirus, do not get the basic right to return home safely.

“Every incident of violence is like a terrorist attack and must be addressed accordingly,” Cohen said.

The nurses warned that if the violence continues, they will go on another strike.

Arnon Bar-David, chairman of the Histadrut, Israel’s largest workers union, sent a letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, demanding an urgent discussion on the issue.

He said those who pay for the violence are not only victims in the workplace but Israeli society as a whole.

AFP