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Opinion | It's important that Social Security wins Albshan Israel today

2022-07-13T21:44:16.559Z


The Gilour Commission erred in deciding that because of what it calls "managerial experience," it is not appropriate to fill the position. I hope the government will correct the mistake soon


I read the report on the decision of the Gilor Committee for the Appointment of Senior Officials in the Companies Authority, to disqualify the appointment of Prof. Yuval Elbashan to the position of CEO of the National Insurance Institute, and my heart aches.

I have known Prof. Albashan for decades from his social activities.

It is impossible to write that we are friends, but there is a long-standing mutual appreciation between us.

The defining moment in our relationship was when I met a social entrepreneur 25 years ago, working in the rights centers of the Yedid Association in the Periphery, dealing with thousands of cases of the silenced and weakened forgotten and helping them to exhaust their rights.

Yes, even with the Social Security.

Then I also encountered the deep plowing that he and his friends had created in the field, plowing that aims to rehabilitate the trampled communities to re-establish their dignity and protect their most basic rights.

This was not a temporary adventure for Albashen.

Even after eight senior positions, such as with a bureau and secretariat and an attached vehicle, Albashan did not stop operating in the field.

Here is another groundbreaking moment between us: When I served as Minister of Civil and Social Affairs at the Ministry of Defense, devoting all my time to correcting the treatment received by the Fighters Rehabilitation Division in general and post-trauma victims in particular, a Golani soldier wounded in the Second Lebanon War called me.

He could not cope with the post-trauma that gripped his soul, accumulated debts and was forced to leave his family and flee the country.

There was then no free legal aid on the subject (as we have been able to correct since the "One Soul" reform) and with no choice he found himself living in Laos, one of the poorest countries in the world, as his medical and mental condition worsened.

I looked for someone to help me and turned to Albshan.

He hurried to take the case, and as part of one of his work trips to Asia (he serves as a volunteer consultant for the establishment of government social assistance networks in Third World countries) "jumped" to Laos and met the same fighter there.

I will not forget the photo he sent me from there on WhatsApp - a photo of them both smiling and hugging.

Afterwards, Albashan handled all the cases and closed them, the same fighter returned to Israel, and today he is here with us functioning and coping.

In that case Albashan saved one soul, and he did what any future Social Security official would be required to do if Albashan was there: accompany a person in pain when he is lost and does not understand the rights he deserves, hug him and help him exhaust his rights so he can return to normal life.

So yes, I want a CEO of the National Insurance Institute who grew up in the field and met with the whiteness of his eyes the Israeli pain in all its shades.

A CEO who met the single mother without public housing, with her belongings dumped on the sidewalk in front of the building where she lived; the man in a work accident became chronically unemployed and no longer able to support himself; the unpaid elderly man who suddenly became poor.

And yes, I want a CEO whose heart is so big that even the distance from Israel to Laos is easily eroded. 

I want Albashan as the director general of the National Insurance Institute, also because of his academic knowledge and his vast experience in changing social policy, because that is also part of the role of the director general of the National Insurance Institute: to help us, the legislators, with that.

Albashan is not an appointment of my party, but he is a worthy and important appointment.

The Gilour Commission erred in deciding that because of what it calls "managerial experience" it is not appropriate to fill the position.

This is a mistake not only because he also has rich enough managerial experience, but also for all the reasons I mentioned earlier.

So I hope the government will correct this mistake of the Gilour Commission, and soon, that we need a Social Security CEO who started his career helping thousands of poor people with Social Security.

MK Michael Bitton is the chairman of the economics committee on behalf of the Blue and White Party.

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-07-13

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