Suicides among the ranks of the “Israeli enemy’s army” increased after the end of the war with Lebanon

Published on December 4, 2024
Ansarullah website – Follow-ups

The head of the so-called “National Council for the Prevention of Suicide” in the Zionist entity, Gil Zaltzman, warned of a “mental health tsunami” and an increase in the number of suicides with the end of the war with Lebanon, after last year witnessed a 40% increase in visits to crisis and mental health centers.

Zaltzman called for limiting firearms among settlers, and adding a question to the firearms license application form: “Have you ever thought about committing suicide?”, demanding an increase in the number of therapists and salaries of psychological specialists, and an increase in the budget from 2.5 to 5 million shekels for a program concerned with reducing suicide in the Ministry of Education called “I chose life.”

In the same context, the head of the Health Committee and MK Yoni Mishrak (Shas) acknowledged that “the same psychological crises that erupted in those terrible hours (October 7) continue to accompany Israeli society to this day.”

He believed that the large budget they succeeded in adding to the national suicide prevention program is not enough, calling on the Ministry of Education to add a budget to the “You Chose Life” program, and not to be satisfied with the budget transferred to it from the Ministry of Health.

It was revealed in the Knesset session that the families of the returning kidnapped do not have psychological treatment for the kidnapped person’s brothers.

The Director of Government Relations and National Programs at the Ministry of Health, Miri Cohen, warned of suicide cases with the return of normal life after the war, and said: “At least one person commits suicide every day in Israel, while there is actually a lack of reporting of suicide cases due to other causes of death being recorded.”

She added: “About 400-500 people commit suicide in Israel every year, and about 7,000 suicide attempts are reported to emergency rooms every year.

The budget for the suicide prevention program is NIS 15.7 million for 2024, to which NIS 2 million will be added after the activities of the Health Committee.”

Tatiana Mazarsky, a suicide prevention initiator, warned of the crisis that sufferers psychologically from any stress, and even from the replacement or departure of the therapist, while Hagai Hermesh, director of the “For Life” Association, warned of the long wait for an appointment with mental health therapists, and of negative prejudices on the subject.

Lieutenant Colonel Carmel Keila, head of the clinical department in the Technology and Logistics Division, spoke about treatment centers for regular and reserve soldiers, psychological preparation before combat and treatment procedures after it, in addition to training a special course on this subject for officers to detect signs of a crisis and the duty of mutual support.

The newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” had reported on the increase in the number of Zionist soldiers suffering from mental health problems as a result of the long war on both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

It pointed out that 6 soldiers from the Zionist enemy “army” committed suicide during the last few months, stressing that this number is “partial” for the number of soldiers who committed suicide, as “the army refuses to publish the full number of these or those who attempted suicide.”