Last update - 00:00 18/12/2007
Shell-shocked troops overlooked by gov't recognized in new law
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
An amendment passed Tuesday will enable shell-shocked Israel Defense Forces troops to receive recognition and stipends as disabled veterans from the Defense Ministry, despite prior recognition as disabled by the National Insurance Institute.
MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) advanced the amendment, which is to the law on disabled soldiers.
Gal-On said that soldiers experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder frequently failed in proving to the Defense Ministry's pensions officer the connection between their suffering and their army service. As such, they were discounted from benefits mandated by the law on disabled soldiers.
These soldiers were then forced to request recognition of a general disability from the National Insurance Institute instead, with none of the benefits for disabled verterans, and also loosing their right to receive recognition by the Defense Ministry, Gal-On stated.
Gal-On said the law will significantly right an injustice done to the shell-shocked soldiers. "They were hurled into the bureaucratic imbroglio, and their rights as Defense Ministry disabled [troops] were therefore discounted," she said.
The MK continued: "The amendment corrects this injustice and enables the shell shocked [troops], whose disability was caused during their military service, to demand from the state the full realization of their rights."
According to the amended law, soldiers whose status as disabled was recognized by the national Insurance and who had requested in the past Defense Ministry recognition will soon be able to chose which body they would like to recognize their disability, and receive a stipend from due to their psychological damage.
Following the Second Lebanon War, some 400 regular and reservist soldiers submitted claims to the Defense Ministry's rehabilitation department for recognition of their status as disabled.
The troops requested recognition for their suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder on account of exposure to difficult situations during the war.
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