Bo’u is “led by top professionals in the fields of physical and mental health in Israel, aimed at rescuing the hostages and preserving Israeli society,” their website states.
The Israel-based ‘Bo’u’ medical initiative (Come Together) penned a letter on Monday addressing top officials of the country’s Health Ministry, asking them not to prioritize certain hostages to be released earlier than others and that they do not agree to only a partial release of the remaining 50 hostages, but a full and immediate release for all, according to a report by KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster.
Bo’u is “led by top professionals in the fields of physical and mental health in Israel, aimed at rescuing the hostages and preserving Israeli society,” their website states.
The initiative was created in response to the conditions of the hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It’s known for hosting many lectures to raise public awareness on the matter, which are done through their speakers via Zoom. As of Monday, they have held over 700 lectures, according to the initiative.
‘Professionally wrong and intolerable’
“Deciding on medical grounds who is ‘worthy’ of release and who will remain in captivity is not only professionally wrong but also intolerable from a conscientious point of view. It creates a reality of selection among hostages, as if suffering could be graded, entitlement to freedom measured, or the extent to which a person deserves to be rescued.
“This type of medical selection is familiar to us from the darkest period in the history of the Jewish people,” the association continued. “The very use of medical parameters to decide who will remain in captivity and who will be saved echoes historical memories that have no place in a sovereign and moral Jewish state.”
General view of the Ministry of Health building in Jerusalem October 17, 2021. (credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)
Israel’s public broadcaster also quoted Dr. Einat Yehene, Head of Rehabilitation at the Hostage Families Forum‘s Health Division, who said that a partial release of hostages leads to jealousy in families whose loved ones still haven’t been released and creates gaps between the families.
