In Israel, about one and a half million people with disabilities, of whom about 600,<> have disabilities that affect their ability to access. It is estimated that thousands of people with disabilities live in the combat zones. Why estimates? Because not everyone with a disability is recognized by the welfare systems of the local authority in which he lives, and in Israel there is no single database that centralizes the data.
As part of the enactment of the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law about 17 years ago, the Minister of Defense was supposed to enact regulations regarding the accessibility of the state's emergency services to people with disabilities. Among other things, a computerized database was supposed to be established that would enable efficient and rapid identification of those in need of assistance, with an emphasis on the population unknown to the welfare systems in the local authorities. It turns out that 17 years were not enough, the regulations were not installed, and in 2021, the High Court ruled, in a petition filed 13 years earlier, that the Minister of Defense must install them by the end of 2022.
And how many hotel rooms are there?
Since Israel entered five elections, the move was repeatedly postponed, and meanwhile war broke out in Israel and the entire system was caught off guard. And you have to understand: for people with disabilities who live in combat zones that have not been evacuated, such as Ashkelon, it is even more difficult. Even those who live near a protected area or whose home has a safe room cannot always reach it on time due to their disability. But because he lives in an area that has not been declared an evacuation zone, or because he has a nearby protected area, he is not included in the state's list of priorities for evacuation.
IDF Spokesperson
In addition to not installing database regulations, Israel does not have organized information on the number of accessible rooms in hotels. What is known is that there are not enough of them. In a discussion before the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee last week, it emerged that so far the state has evicted thousands of people with disabilities from their homes and welfare frameworks, but the existing stock of accessible rooms is very low, many have received rooms that are not suitable for their needs, and many of the accessible rooms have housed people without disabilities and now cannot be removed. If the government expands the evacuation zones even further, there will no longer be a solution for people with disabilities. For example, there are about 240 welfare frameworks for people with disabilities between the northern border and Haifa alone.
"Nowhere else to turn"
Access Israel, which has taken it upon itself to fund out of pocket the evacuation of people with disabilities – even those who do not live in the evacuation zones – has already evacuated hundreds, and hundreds of others are waiting for a solution. Access Israel CEO Yuval Wagner says: "We no longer have anywhere to evacuate them. There aren't enough places in Israel in general, and for people with disabilities in particular."
Since the beginning of the war, the organization has operated the "Purple Vest" project, which originated in the war in Ukraine, when the organization established an entire system with which some 4,000 people with disabilities were rescued from Poland to Poland and assistance was provided to another 10,000 who remained in Ukraine. With the beginning of the war in Israel, the infrastructure of the project was diverted to help people with disabilities here in Israel. "Everyone who contacted us and needed a rescue, we helped them, funded hotels, until we reached financial distress," Wagner adds. "Fortunately, the Minister of Social Affairs and the Minister of Tourism have enlisted to help us with funding and they also update us when they hear about accessible rooms available.
"The main problem right now is that there are almost no rooms. The number of accessible rooms in hotels in Israel is very low, much less than the relative share of people with disabilities in the population. There is no exact information on the number of rooms, and there are many more that need accessible rooms than there actually are. We have no answers. The country should not have reached this situation."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us