Poverty and war add to Israel’s surging suicide rate

The recent rise in recession-related suicides has social scientists and mental-health professionals concerned about the economy's effect on the public.

He was the envy of many Israeli youngsters -- a boy with a promising future, it seemed. But Lior Almaliah didn't feel that way on April 8 when a serviceman showed up at his Petah Tikva home to disconnect the electricity because of unpaid bills.

Upset, he called his mother at work, and she promptly went to Israel Electric to pay the debt. But by the time the power was restored, it was too late. The despondent teenager, Israel's national youth judo champion, had hung himself with his judo belt.

"Mother, I don't want to be a burden on you," wrote the 15-year-old in a suicide note. "They turned off the electricity an hour ago, and I can't surf the Net. I'm sorry, but I can't go on any longer "

Almaliah was raised by his single mother, who just managed to eke out a living; the high school student worked part-time in a grocery store to help support the two of them.

"I knew he faced economic hardship, like in many households," said the boy's longtime judo coach, Nati Capri, after news of his death. "But I never felt a sense of desperation from him. I am shocked."

A week earlier, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zevulun Orlev informed the Knesset that the number of suicides in Israel had risen 65 percent in one year -- with 100 more citizens killing themselves in 2002 than in the previous year. Orlev called for an investigation to determine "whether there is a connection between suicide acts and economic distress, especially in the middle and lower class."

While there is a connection between the wave of suicides and the bad economy, experts say these people most likely already possess self-destructive urges, which could have been triggered by another major setback.

"Suicide is very complex. The note the victim leaves does not always reflect the real or only reason for the act," explains Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, director of the National Council for the Child. "Often the reason that is given is the trigger, the straw that breaks the camel's back."

Kadman cites the common example of a young man who kills himself because "his girlfriend left him." "You can't say that that was the entire reason since there are loads of people who don't kill themselves when their girlfriend leaves them.

"So I wouldn't want to accuse the electric company of being responsible for the suicide of the boy. Suicide is usually the result of inner psychological and emotional processes. It's not as simple as: this is the cause; that's the result.

"Having said that," Kadman adds, "a situation of economic distress can trigger desperate acts -- especially when it involves a sharp drop in a family's standard of living." This can have a particularly overwhelming effect on children because they have fewer tools for coping than adults have, he says.

"Children often feel a great sense of personal responsibility for the economic situation of the family, even wrongly assuming that it is somehow 'their fault.' This can have harsh consequences. In Israel, in particular," Kadman notes, "children grow up taking on an exaggerated sense of responsibility, especially for the welfare of their parents."

Kadman predicts the situation will only get worse. "You don't need to be a prophet to see that if the new proposed budget cuts -- which affect the lower and lower-middle class -- are implemented, we will see grave consequences for individuals, including violence. Suicide is one form of violence."

Israel, it would seem, is still in the "early" phase of the recession in which the most vulnerable are considering -- and committing -- suicide.

"Never before have we had as many calls from people contemplating suicide," says David Koren, director of ERAN (a Hebrew acronym for Emotional First Aid), which runs a help hotline. The month of March saw a 50 percent increase in calls for help related to economic hardship, compared to March 2002, he says.

"There is a different atmosphere in Israel today than there was in the past. In contrast to other times, what we hear nowadays is a total loss of hope."

For the first time many Israelis feel abandoned by the state, he adds. "It used to be clear that Israel had no homeless people -- unless they were drug addicts or alcoholics. But nowadays, so-called 'normal' people with whom we can identify are finding themselves on the street."

Many parents and grandparents of this generation of Israelis were themselves desperately poor when they came to the country. Few of them contemplated, let alone, committed suicide. What's the difference?

"The difference," says Koren, "is expectation. Many of our parents came to a new country knowing the hardships that awaited them. And, as time went on, their lives improved. They could look forward to a better future for themselves and their children."

Now, says Koren, the situation is just the opposite. During the '90s, Israel experienced an economic boom, along with giddy hopes of achieving peace. Two-and-a-half years ago, both those dreams were shattered.