Wounded IDF veteran is fighting to work
Lior Tibi was determined to rejoin the workforce despite terrible injuries in a tank accident during the Second Lebanon War; now his family says that his dismissal by the Airports Authority feels as though he has been run over for a second time.
Yavne resident Lior Tibi could be sitting at home today without a care in the world for the rest of his life when it comes to earning a living. He's 28; he has his whole life ahead of him.
But Tibi doesn't want handouts. He wants to work. After sustaining serious injuries in the Second Lebanon War, Tibi underwent a grueling rehabilitation process and insisted on supporting himself. And now, for the second time, he is earning the unusual gratitude of the State of Israel – a summons to a dismissal hearing from his job as a porter at a government company, the Israel Airports Authority. The reason – cutbacks.
Lior served as a combat soldier in the Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion. On August 12, 2006, at the height of the Second Lebanon War, the battalion's forces were operating in the village of Shakif al-Amal, in the central sector of southern Lebanon.
As the dawn began to break, the soldiers lay down to rest for a while in the bushes at the side of the road. The crew of an Israel Defense Forces Merkava Mark III tank that was passing by failed to spot the resting soldiers and accidentally ran over four of them. Staff Sergeant Yosef Abitboul, 19, and Sergeant Tamer Amer, 20, were killed instantly; Tibi and a fourth fighter were seriously hurt.
The tank that ran over Lior crushed his right arm, his calves and his thighs. He lost consciousness, and was evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Hospital in Haifa for emergency surgery. His sister, whose wedding was just three days away, moved the ceremony to the hospital, not far from his bedside. Several weeks later, Lior, still unconscious, was transferred to Beit Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital. A month went by before he began to regain consciousness and begin a long rehabilitation process, which included learning basic functioning and how to talk again.
Lior was released from Beit Loewenstein some six months later, but his therapy continued. And although he was recognized as an IDF veteran with a permanent medical disability of 80 percent, he refused to simply sit at home and live off his state allowance. He banged on the doors of the Defense Ministry's Rehabilitation Department time and again until they finally responded; and three years ago, he secured a job with the Airports Authority.
No special treatment
His severe injuries did not afford him any special treatment. Lior was assigned to work as a porter, loading and offloading cargo from the airplanes' holds – tough, physical labor.
"I see how he struggles to lift the suitcases and crates and it simply tears me apart, especially when I know how much he suffers from the serious injuries he sustained," said one of his workmates. Apparently, however, that wasn't enough either.
"Lior was fired about a year ago under the claim that they need to make cutbacks," says his father, Dani, angrily. "He sat here at home for three months before I appealed to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, who is responsible for the Airports Authority, and he personally ordered Lior's reinstatement."
A year passed, and another summons to a dismissal hearing arrived, with cutbacks the given reason once again.
"If he were to sit at home and live off the disability allowances to which he is entitled, he'd receive more money than he earns today," his father insists. "But he was a fighter and he isn't willing to take advantage of the state. It's a shame that this is how the state shows its gratitude towards him, and when cutbacks are needed they come for him. We feel like Lior has been run over twice – the first time by the tank, and the second time by the state. I honestly can't say which is more painful."
Where's the state?
Lior, for his part, refused to acknowledge the summons he received, but appealed to the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization, which stepped in to help him. "Regrettably, at the meeting I had with the Defense Ministry representatives and the director-general of the Airports Authority, Mr. Yaakov Ganot, the director-general completely disavowed his moral public obligation towards the welfare of a young and severely disabled IDF veteran," wrote Danny Ben Abu, deputy chairman of the organization, in a letter to Minister Katz.
"In these times, with hundreds of young fighters in hospital in the wake of Operation Protective Edge, it's important for the government of Israel and you, as its representative in the Transportation Ministry, to show the way to the economy at large and make sure you take care of the future and employment of these disabled individuals."
A statement from the Airports Authority reads: "We regret the use the worker is making, and not for the first time, of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization to deal with his employment. The worker was taken on as a temporary worker, and was included in the list of temporary workers marked for dismissal.
"We are currently dismissing more than 130 temporary workers to match the workforce to the operational needs of the airport. The worker, via the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization, requested that he be allowed to remain on as a temporary worker employed to load and offload suitcases, a job that requires physical work," the statement continues.
"Despite the fact that his period of employment was over, we decided, as an exception, to continue to employ him beyond the allotted time. Throughout his period of employment, the worker complained of physical hardships that prevented him from functioning properly (including disciplinary problems)."
However, contrary to the contents of the statement, Lior's summons to the dismissal hearing noted "cutbacks", not disciplinary issues, as the reason. Moreover, Lior was commended for his work just a week ago in an internal work report compiled by the Airports Authority.
