Unfortunately, even after two years, the physical and emotional challenges are compounded by additional obstacles – a severe shortage of professional staff, exhausting bureaucracy, and waiting times that can be life-threatening.
I say this both as a public servant and as a wounded veteran myself. I, too, have been there – that moment when everything goes dark, when you realize that the life you knew will never return to what it was.
Having been wounded during my military service in combat in Gaza more than 30 years ago, I know firsthand what the daily struggle of rehabilitation looks like. I know the pain, the fight to rebuild, and the bureaucratic wall that accompanies it. I also know the hope and the power of a community that understands that rehabilitation is a shared effort.
That is why I know exactly what is needed today. This is not the time for words; it is the time for action: increased budgets, accelerated implementation of reforms, recruitment of professional staff, open doors, and the removal of barriers. Those who returned from battle with life-altering injuries cannot wait months for an appointment and should not have to fight for what is self-evident. They gave their bodies and souls for the state, and they need an immediate response.
Alongside the pain, there is also great hope. In our Beit Halochem rehabilitation centers, every day I see men and women who are able to smile again, families finding a shoulder to lean on, fighters learning to walk anew, and people who manage to breathe again after months of anguish.
We have devoted therapists, rehabilitation teams who dedicate their lives to this mission, and a sense of camaraderie that proves that even the deepest wounds can heal. It is hard work, but it is made possible by a simple truth: No wounded veteran is ever left alone.
This is my commitment as chairperson of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization and as someone who knows this journey intimately. We will continue to fight for every wounded man and woman, to accompany them, to push, to shake systems when needed, and to stand beside those who bore the greatest pain on behalf of us all.
On this day of appreciation, I ask only one thing: remember that the wounded are not a marginal chapter in the Israeli story; they are its heart. They fought for all of us. Now, it is our turn to fight for them.
The writer is chairperson of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization.