The Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa on Sunday denied allegations of malpractice, after relatives of a soldier recently injured in Lebanon accused the hospital’s Arab staff of mistreating their loved one.

The accusations were quickly echoed by far-right politicians, while Arab MKs hit back, saying the incident was another example of widespread racism against Arab-Israelis who are deeply integrated in Israel’s health care system.

One of the accusers, Yehoshua Shani, chairman of the right-wing Gvura Forum for families of soldiers killed fighting in Gaza and father of the late Cpt. Ori Mordechay Shani, is the uncle of one of four soldiers who were seriously wounded last week after being hit by an explosive device in the southern Lebanon town of Majdal Zoun.

Shani took to X on Sunday to accuse the hospital’s night-shift nursing staff, which he described as “Arabic-speakers,” of depriving his nephew, Eitan, of water and turning him over in bed “like a sardine,” allegedly slamming his head into the bed.

According to Shani, Eitan had been sedated and on a ventilator until Saturday. That night, hospital staff asked family members to leave, as is customary in intensive care units.

But Shani portrayed the routine measure as alarming because the soldiers were left in the care solely of Arabic-speaking medical workers.

“At a certain point, all the families were removed from the department, and the doors were locked,” Shani recounted. “You need to understand the situation: Four seriously injured IDF soldiers, who had just returned from combat in Lebanon, are left alone behind locked doors, without their family members, while the entire staff on shift speaks Arabic.”

David Chesterman, the brother of the same wounded soldier, made similar allegations on Instagram.

“At night, a new shift arrived at the unit, all of them Arabic-speakers,” Chesterman wrote in a series of pictures of hospital equipment. “They took all the families out and locked the doors.”

Chesterman said that after staff refused to allow the family to enter his brother’s hospital room, he forced his way........

© The Times of Israel