On August 11, Oded Ben-Ami, host of Channel 12’s “Six With Oded Ben-Ami” current affairs program, issued an apology to the medical staff of Haifa’s Rambam Hospital for an item broadcast two days earlier which, in Ben-Ami’s words, “left the impression that the professionalism and dedication of the Arab staff treating IDF soldiers is being called into question.” He went on to say that he has no doubt whatsoever about the professionalism of the Arab staff and the care they provide to wounded soldiers and even conferred upon them the ultimate mark of Israeli legitimacy by noting that some serve in the IDF. Finally, Ben-Ami said he is sorry if any of the Rambam staff were hurt by the item.

One doesn’t need a PhD in psychology to understand the difference between “I’m sorry I hurt you” and “I’m sorry if you were hurt” which, taken together with “left the impression,” paints the report that led to the apology as a misunderstanding, but that is the least of the problem with it.

The item in question was an interview with David Chesterman, brother of one of the soldiers hospitalized in Rambam’s intensive care unit (ICU) after being seriously injured in Lebanon. Chesterman claimed that when the night shift arrived, they made the visitors leave the ICU, locked the doors, and refused to let the relatives back in despite repeated requests. Eventually he broke down the door and, he told Ben-Ami, found his brother begging for water. The wounded soldier also reportedly told Chesterman that the staff had mishandled him, turning him over “like a sardine.” But that was not the worst of their offenses, according to Chesterman.  He began his attack on the Rambam staff with the fact that they spoke Arabic. Period. He described as “completely insane” the situation in which wounded soldiers were left in the care of only Arabic-speaking staff for an entire night.

Ben-Ami Lends a Sympathetic Ear

While Chesterman recounted his version of events, Ben-Ami nodded sympathetically and never questioned the brother’s basic assertion that putting wounded soldiers in the care of Arabs constitutes a serious error in judgment on the part of the medical and military authorities. When Ben-Ami reported that the hospital had rejected the claims of mistreatment on the part of the staff, Chesterman said that even if that’s true, leaving helpless soldiers in the hands of Arabs without anyone watching over them is incomprehensible. To this, Ben-Ami responded that the situation is indeed “frustrating.”

Ben-Ami didn’t even bat an eyelash when Chesterman........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)