From Startup Nation to Rehabilitation Nation
On the night of March 24, millions of Israelis held their breath. On the screen stood Omri Rosenblit, a reservist officer and war hero, facing the “Dining Table” challenge in Georgia. He looked at the task, a low crouch and balancing a heavy table on his legs while moving, and said five words that should echo in every production office of Israel’s broadcasters: “I can’t do this.”
This was not a moment of mental weakness. It was a moment of simple physics. Omri, who lost his left leg in the battle in Khan Yunis, is competing with a prosthesis. This specific task required muscle groups and balancing ability that Omri’s body, biologically and technologically, simply does not have.
Omri did not fail the task, the task failed the test of fairness and suitability for him. The question that must be asked openly is, who approved this task? Let us imagine a different scenario: would any production even think of designing a task based on identifying sounds for a deaf contestant? Would anyone dare require observant contestants to eat non-kosher food as a condition for staying in the race? The answer is clear: absolutely not. The outcry would be immediate, and the task would be ruled out already at the planning stage.
But when it comes to a disabled IDF veteran, a hero who gave his body for the country, the standards seem to change. Here, disability becomes a “television challenge” and raw material for ratings, instead of a red line of basic fairness.
The media chose to focus on “the beautiful Israel,” on the noble gesture by May Hatuel and Itai On, who gave up their first-place position in order to return and help Omri. This is indeed a moving moment, but we must not allow the beauty of the gesture to obscure the ugliness of the situation that caused it. May and Itai should never have been put in that position. They were forced to fix, with their own hands, an inherent injustice created by the production.
This is a precise and painful parable about Israel today, citizens with a moral code are forced to pay the price and correct what is wrong, while the institutions that are supposed to protect everyone stand by, collect the ratings data, and move on to the next episode.
Every time a hero like Omri is treated not as a person to be included, but as a plotline to boost ratings, our culture moves in the wrong direction. Today, with more than 100,000 wounded people being treated in rehabilitation wards and by National Insurance, Israel must undergo a change in consciousness. We must become a “nation of rehabilitation,” a society that understands that inclusion is not a favor done for someone, but a cultural reflex.
Decades ago, we learned not to pick wildflowers. It became instinctive, without the need for enforcement. That is what rehabilitation in Israel should look like, not an emergency response, not charity, and not a sub-plot in a reality show. It should be our default.
Omri Rosenblit, who fought for his life in the ruins of Gaza and underwent grueling rehabilitation to stand on his feet again, deserves more than this. He, and the tens of thousands like him, deserve a society that sees them as equals, not as decoration for the ratings.
The first step for the production of “The Amazing Race” should be to acknowledge the mistake and issue a public apology to Omri. May, Itai, Itai and Omri showed us what doing the right thing looks like. Now it is our turn to build a state worthy of their heroism.
Kallanit Valfer is the founder and chairperson and co-founder and managing partner of Lakoom (lakoomventures.com), a board member of the Friends of the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center association. She led a multimillion-dollar fundraising effort to strengthen the institution during the Iron Swords War, and she is a co-founder of the Ela Fund, which invests in Israeli technology companies.
