It is unpleasant to stand on unstable ground. Displacement triggers danger signals. Is the danger great or small, or does it not exist at all? The risk assessment stems from the degree of trust that a person places in the government and its leader.
The changes of the coup mean that any government in Israel, right or left, will be able to legislate and navigate uncontrollably. For example, a ban on expressions of affection in public spaces or a ban on religious dress symbols – anything will be possible, and the lack of reasonableness cannot be used as an argument.
Faced with this danger, a man and woman decide for themselves whether to stay in the country, leave or wait for the moment when they can no longer bear the situation.
Doctors in Israel, like many others, immigrate temporarily or permanently. The acute shortage of doctors exists in many countries, which offer good conditions to lure doctors from other countries. For example, the Scandinavian countries import doctors from Hungary and Poland. There, too, doctors are fleeing to freer and more democratic countries.
The migration movement now in Israel is different. Many doctors are willing to emigrate without negotiating roles and conditions. In groups or alone, as an escape option. They're afraid!
The relocation we are witnessing is disorganized. It was created in response to the processes taking place in Israel, which arouse terror among these doctors, and this is the opening through which hospital managers in Europe, who are eager to bring us to their country, cast their rods.
We, as physicians, are educated to put our best interests second to the benefit of our patients. The anxiety during COVID-19 was not about our infection, but about infecting patients and our family members. But now, the danger to our children and to the society in which they will live is unbearable. One can argue and say that the danger is not so great, one can argue and say that they must stay here and fight for what they believe in. But their assessment is different. They see the takeover of many systems by conservatism, the erosion of professionalism.
The world has known many immigration movements. We, too, as Jews, emigrated from our homeland because of hunger and poverty, because of a regime that did not respect our faith. Sometimes immigration saves a person's soul, and sometimes even his life. Can you or I predict that nothing bad will happen, and that the coup graph will be small? Who can guarantee that my son, who was born into a different family, that my patients suffer from psychiatric illnesses, that my co-workers from the Arab sector and that my female colleagues will have complete freedom, as they did until January 2023?
This week I marked 31 years in my workplace, and I have headed the department for 18 years. Until recent months, I even refused to consider studying abroad, but in recent months the thought has crept up on me: Where would it be better for us? The thought is hard and brings tears to my eyes
And the line can be drawn further, to areas that are scary to discuss. Do I have the right to prevent my intern, who is concerned and wants to protect his children, from moving to a place where his life will resemble life here by 2022?
On a personal note, I don't like changes. This week I marked 31 years in my workplace, and I have headed the department for 18 years. Until recent months, I even refused to consider studying abroad, but in recent months the thought has crept up on me: Where would it be better for us? The thought is hard and brings tears to my eyes.
The key to change lies in the hands of one person – the prime minister. He has to ask himself: Is the benefit greater than the harm? Is it possible to give up those pilots and doctors, high-tech and academics, production and art people?
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