By Arieh Eldad

A storm erupted in Israel a few weeks ago over news reports of alleged abuse of monkeys in the laboratories of the Weizmann Institute. Many of us were shocked by pictures of monkeys whose skulls had been partially removed, with electrodes extending from their uncovered brains. The pitiful state of these monkeys was fixed in the eyes of viewers. Israel’s animal rights organizations demanded that the cruel experiments be stopped and the experimenters made to stand trial.

Anyone experimenting with animals is certainly obligated to ensure that only vital experiments are undertaken, the animals are provided with food and water, and they are not forced to endure unnecessary suffering. But the news reports were either uninformed or purposely misleading, and most readers had no way of knowing that the accusations of “operations performed without painkillers” were ridiculous: there are no pain sensors in brains; every year hundreds of Israelis undergo brain operations while they are completely awake, cooperating with their surgeons and feeling no pain. Anyone opposed to experiments on live animals for basic research or in order to develop vital medicines should be honest and courageous enough to promise never to use medicines developed by the aid of such research, and, even if the lives of his loved ones are hanging in the balance, he should refuse to save them by means of surgery or medicines developed through experiments on animals. One can respect such a principled position of a person towards himself and allow him to die, though one should also be quick to appoint a guardian for his helpless children, should he refuse to grant them life-saving treatment. But anyone who opposes such experiments who would not refrain from saving his own life by means of what was accomplished through the experiments is only hypocritical.

Eastern cultures have popular images of three monkeys: one covers his eyes, a second his ears, and a third his mouth. These monkeys seem happy. The see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. The Israeli public, which was so shocked by the suffering of laboratory monkeys, has not noticed - as it rushes from one media story to another - that it is itself the subject of an unnecessary experiment and none of its leaders are trying to spare it suffering. During the second Lebanese War, a missile boat, the Hanit, sailed opposite Beirut with all of its warning systems shut down. A missile fired from shore hit the boat and killed four of its crew. The army conducted a thorough investigation and declared that lessons were learned and matters rectified. A year later three Katyusha rockets hit Kiryat Shmona and the warning system did not work. The deputy defense minister responded to my question in the Knesset and declared that there had been a glitch and the glitch was fixed and other than a few miniscule areas, advanced warning systems were providing full coverage. A few days ago Katyushas were again fired, this time hitting Shlomi. The warning system saw nothing and heard nothing and warning sirens were not activated. Is Shlomi one of the “miniscule areas” the deputy defense minister was referring to? Or maybe they once again fed us a line, sure that we are blind and deaf and know not how to ask. Early this week, a Katyusha hit northern Ashkelon, and the prime minister declared that this is “crossing the red line.” Such a statement implies that the thousands of rockets fired on Sderot were not crossing any such red line. Maybe Sderot is also “a miniscule area.” Or maybe Olmert is sure that Sderot’s residents have already been deafened by the explosions and so wouldn’t hear his insulting declaration.

Three months ago, Holocaust survivors demonstrated in Jerusalem, and the government promised that in early October, benefits would be paid to the most needy. At the beginning of January, a minor bureaucrat came to the Knesset and declared that perhaps the money would be paid in March. Holocaust survivors attending the hearing said that from the time the promise had been made, 4,000 of them had already died. The prime minister knows that the survivors are old and ill and every month of mendacious delay saves the state treasury millions of shekels. These Holocaust survivors are in their own way “miniscule.” Some of them are blind, some of them are hard of hearing, and they don’t have any more strength to shout. So why rush?

Three of the ministers serving in Olmert’s cabinet: Bar On, Herzog and Rafi Eitan, responsible for Finance, Welfare, and the Elderly, respectively, are trading accusations as to who is delaying the transfer of funds for the Holocaust survivors and who is preventing changes in the regulations regarding entitlements for old age benefits. Olmert must be laughing watching this squabble in the cage. And all of them must be missing the state’s former accountant-general, whistleblower Yaron Zelicha, whose honesty, persistence, and revelations earned him his dismissal. He was the perfect scapegoat, and now that he is gone, the government surely misses him, this blind and closed-minded government. Actually, even the silent monkey is missing from this government: they do after all know how to chatter and promise.