Against the grain

1. I support the Obama Health Plan. Or more precisely I am glad that the US finally has a health plan that covers the majority of the population. Having grown up in Britain I know that the National Health Service was a God-send for most poor people, it did in fact revolutionize Britain. Now the Health Plan will change America. I did not want to live in a country where 15% of the population was denied any kind of medical treatment. Now another 35 million people will get medical coverage, and the last of the great western democracies finally comes into the 20th century! I am not an expert on health care or insurance matters, but it was clear to me that the insurance companies were opposing this health care program thru the Republicans. Now, I am not a genuflecting liberal, and I do think that how this is paid for matters. But, the fact is that finally a President had the guts to slog it out and come up with at least a program that guarantees health care for all without exclusion of pre-existing conditions. Good for Obama. Now perhaps he can become more supportive of Israel and face the major foreign policy challenge, that of Iran.

2. I am incensed that PM Netanyahu voted in the Cabinet prior to departure for America to move the reinforced emergency room at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon to another location. It had been planned to have the new ER that could withstand rocket attacks directly adjacent to the Hospital. But, because human bones were found in the excavations, the Deputy Minister of Health, Jacob Litzman, an Orthodox Jew, decided to move the location, at an expense of 130 million shekels (ca. m$35), to a place some 500 meters away. Now this has delayed the start of building by 2 years, and the matter finally went to the Cabinet and was passed by a one vote majority to move the ER. This is rationally ridiculous, since the bones have been judged to be either Christian or pagan and anyway why endanger Jewish lives for some bones, whoever they belonged to. According to Halacha and to common sense the hardened ER is needed as soon as possible and as close to the Hospital as possible. That Netanyahu would vote for this nonsense shows only that politics trumps common sense every time. There is a 30 day delay clause so hopefully the Government will reverse itself when saner heads prevail.

3. Why are some of us sceptical about any useful outcome of the so-called peace process? Here is a case in point, I watched the Doha Debates on BBC between two representatives each of Hamas and Fatah. It was interesting because they talked past each other, there is obviously no chance of any accomodation between them. When the moderator put them on the spot the Hamas representative stated categorically that they would never give up power. The Fatah representatives argued all the time that they were just as militant as Hamas in fighting the "occupation" and there was no doubt what that meant. They agreed that violence against Israel was a legitimate means to achieve the national goals of the Palestinians. When questions were asked from the audience it was clear that the questioners were disillusioned with the speakers. In the final vote 89% voted that they do not have confidence in the current leadership of the Palestinians! However, the disillusionment was not that they had not brought about a peace treaty or had not resolved the crisis, the thrust was that they had not achieved the goals of the Palestinian people, that was to reoccupy Palestine and destroy Israel. What was striking was that in the whole program not one person, speaker or questioner, mentioned the word "peace" or "reconciliation," How can we expect to make any progress with these intransigent extremists?