Chanan Kay, the brother of Eliyahu David Kay, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Sunday, is currently serving in the IDF in the Nahal brigade. He was informed of the attack and of the fact that his brother had been seriously injured while he was on base in the south of the country.
Chanan was transported to the nearby city of Arad in a military vehicle and was then told to make his own way to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem. While still on the bus to Jerusalem, he was informed that his brother had passed away.
Responding to this incident, MK Moshe Arbel (Shas) wrote to the IDF Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi. “Such an incident should not have occurred in which a soldier – a brother or other relative of someone seriously injured in a terrorist attack – is required to make his own way to the hospital in the immediate aftermath of the attack, when every second counts – when it could be a difference between making it there in time to say a last goodbye to a loved one, or to the place where one is informed of the tragic loss.
“This was an extremely grave error of judgment on the part of the officers concerned, who displayed a blatant disregard for the feelings of the bereaved family and of the families of those injured,” he continued. “It is superfluous to note that the decision was incorrect and would have been incorrect even if Eli Kay had not passed away. In such cases, where serious injury is concerned, and certainly when it is the result of a terrorist attack, the officer concerned must ensure that the soldier is provided with direct transportation to the hospital, and must involve senior officers if necessary, in order to make sure that this is achieved.”
Arbel added that, “I request that you review procedures in this army base and in the unit in which Chanan Kay serves, in order to discover why he was told to make his own way from Arad to the hospital in Jerusalem, and I also request that the command chain structure in similar instances is corrected, in order to ensure that something like this does not happen again.”