Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 16, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba JERUSALEM — Israel’s military chief said Monday that his country will re- spond to Iran’s weekend attack, but he did not elaborate on when and how as world leaders urged against retaliation, trying to avoid a spiral of violence in the Middle East. The Iranian attack on Saturday came in response to a suspected Israeli strike two weeks earlier on an Iranian consular building in the Syrian capital of Damas- cus that killed two Iranian generals. It marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel de- spite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at Israel in the attack. The Israeli military said that 99 per cent of the drones and missiles were intercepted, by Israel’s own air defences and warplanes and in co-ordination with a U.S.-led coalition of partners. Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Monday that Israel is consid- ering its next steps but that the Iranian strike “will be met with a response.” Halevi gave no details. The army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Israel will respond “at the time that we choose.” Both men spoke at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, which Hagari said suffered only light damage in the Iranian attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been huddling with top officials to discuss a possible response. For a second straight day, the government made no announcements on any decisions. In a conversation with U.S. House Ma- jority Leader Steve Scalise, Netanyahu said that “Israel will do whatever is re- quired to defend itself,” the prime minis- ter’s office announced. While Israeli leaders have hinted at re- taliation, the government is under heavy international pressure not to further escalate the conflict — especially af- ter the Iranian strike caused such little damage. The U.S. has urged Israel to show re- straint as it seeks to build a broad diplo- matic response. While Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said any response is up to Israel to decide, he added: “We don’t want to see escalation, but we obviously will take necessary measures to protect our forces in the region.” Pressed at a briefing about whether such a response would jeopardize stabil- ity in the region, Ryder said the U.S. will “stay in close consultation with our Is- raeli partners, as we have done through- out the weekend. Again, we don’t seek wider regional conflict.” The U.S. also has been working in re- cent years to strengthen ties between Israel and moderate Arab states in an alliance to counter Iran. Much of that co-operation has been under the umbrella of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Centcom works closely with militaries across the region, including Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. The U.S., Britain and Jordan — a key American ally in the region — have all said their air forces helped intercept the Iranian missiles and drones. Halevi said France and “other part- ners” were involved, and he noted that “Iran’s attack has created new oppor- tunities for co-operation in the Middle East.” The Iranian weapons also flew through Saudi skies, according to a map released by the Israeli military. Israel says most of the interceptions took place outside of Israeli airspace, indicating at least tacit co-operation with the Saudis. A unilateral Israeli strike could strain these behind-the-scenes contacts, par- ticularly with countries such as Saudi Arabia that do not have official diplo- matic relations with Israel. It also could risk opening a new front with Iran at a time when Israel is bogged down in a six- month war inside Gaza against Hamas militants. Israel and Iran have been on a colli- sion course throughout the Gaza war. The war erupted after Hamas and Is- lamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 33,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and caused wide- spread devastation. Throughout the war, Israel has traded fire across its northern border with Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, while Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen have also at- tacked Israel. The friction has kept up fears of a potentially destructive all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, or a broader direct confrontation between Israel and Iran. World leaders pressed Israel not to strike Iran. In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she’s urging Israel to help de-escalate mounting conflicts in the Middle East by not bombing Iran in retaliation for this weekend’s thwarted airstrikes. Joly said she has spoken with Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz to discour- age his government from responding with direct strikes against Iran. “I’ve been clear to my counterpart in Israel, please take the win, and make sure that we can work together to bring back peace in the region,” she said. “Canada is pushing diplomatically to stop further escalation.” “We think that it is important that Is- rael be able to protect itself, and it has done so over the weekend,” Joly said Monday on Parliament Hill. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “all sides must show restraint” to avoid a rising spiral of violence in the Middle East. French President Emman- uel Macron said Paris will try to “con- vince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.” In Washington, U.S. National Secur- ity Council spokesman John Kirby de- clined to say Monday whether the U.S. had been or expects to be briefed on any Israeli response plans. “We will let the Israelis speak to that,” he said. “We are not involved in their deci- sion-making process about a potential response.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blink- en said the U.S. doesn’t seek escalation but said it would continue to support Is- rael’s security. He pledged to step up the diplomatic efforts against Iran. “Strength and wisdom need to be dif- ferent sides of the same coin,” he said. — The Associated Press N EW Health Sciences Centre sec- urity officers began work Mon- day without pepper gel or the skills to use it, despite an explicit dir- ective from Manitoba’s health minister. “I did give direction last week that they need to be carrying pepper gel,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told reporters Monday. “That training is act- ively happening.” News that the institutional safe- ty officers are still not armed with anything other than ver- bal de-escalation techniques at Manitoba’s lar- gest hospital amid an increase in violent incidents is “disappointing,” the head of the Mani- toba Nurses Union said. “We were led to believe last week that the ISOs would be starting today at Health Sciences (Centre) and carrying pepper gel — with the ability to use it,” MNU president Darlene Jackson said Monday. The union has filed grievances push- ing for more robust security measures throughout the inner-city hospital cam- pus to better protect staff, patients and the public. “So it’s a bit disappointing to find out that they haven’t actually been trained and that there’s been no date given as to when they will be trained,” Jackson said. Manitoba’s previous Progressive Con- servative government passed legislation paving the way for the classification of institutional safety officers in 2021, ex- panding the scope of specialized secur- ity guards. The law allows peace officers to re- ceive specialized training to become ISOs, authorizing them to carry batons, pepper gel and handcuffs. Before forming government in the fall, the NDP criticized the Tories for failing to train and hire any institutional safety officers at hospitals or post-secondary school campuses. Last month, Shared Health said a com- plement of 12 ISOs for HSC was being trained in a course developed by Bran- don’s Assiniboine Community College. The officers with authority to restrain people were expected to “assist with a variety of tasks and interactions to pro- mote an increased sense of safety and security in and around the HSC cam- pus,” a Shared Health spokesperson stat- ed at the time. “This new classification of security employee will enhance safety for pa- tients, visitors and staff across health- care facilities, delivering a focused approach to patrol duties, perimeter sec- urity and major incident response with the tools to intervene, de-escalate and resolve issues.” In total, 105 ISOs will be hired in the coming months at sites across Mani- toba, with three further training class- es scheduled through June, a Shared Health spokesman said. In addition to HSC, they will be de- ployed at St. Boniface Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Brandon Region- al Health Centre and Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Shared Health told the Free Press last week the HSC safety officers would not, initially, be armed with batons or gel, given the hospital setting. A spokesman said there were concerns about the potential use of pepper gel in a hospital and that the health authority did not want to create a situation in which some patients who might be uncomfort- able around armed, uniformed security personnel chose not to seek needed med- ical assistance. Asagwara said it’s expected the ISOs will be trained to carry pepper gel in short order. The health minister also expects to re- ceive regular updates on safety and sec- urity measures in place at HSC. Last week, the arbitrator who heard a grievance filed last summer by the MNU concerning exterior safety at the HSC campus ruled that staff face an “unacceptable level of risk.” Kris Gibson gave Shared Health, the provincial authority responsible for HSC, 30 days to create a safety plan. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca TOP NEWS A3 TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2024 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Hospital staff need protection; is pepper gel right prescription? I N the rush to protect front-line hos- pital staff, has the NDP government put its pepper gel before the cart? Last week, responding to criticism the province had been lax in address- ing security concerns at Health Sci- ences Centre, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara directed that new security officers — who started work Monday — be armed with pepper gel. The minister’s directive came after arbitrator Kris Gibson, responding to a grievance by the Manitoba Nurses Union about safety concerns, found employees face “an unacceptable level of risk” outside HSC buildings and within parking garages. Gibson gave Shared Health, the province’s main health authority, 30 days to develop a safety plan to address the concerns. The minister issued the directive last week in the wake of a Free Press report about the HSC’s new comple- ment of institutional safety officers — specially trained security person- nel with the authority to restrain and detain unruly patients and visitors — were not equipped with the same tools as the same classification of security officers working in University of Manitoba Bannatyne Avenue medical sciences buildings, which make up part of the larger HSC campus. Those officers, who are employed by the university, carry batons and pepper gel spray. The MNU, which represents nurses in HSC’s adult emergency department — where the number of violent incidents has been increasing — was dismayed to learn the just-trained security personnel that started Monday would be equipped with handcuffs, period. Shared Health had made that deci- sion on the basis that some patients would be uncomfortable seeking care in an environment where security officers were visibly armed. Asagwara, a registered nurse, agreed with the union’s concerns and issued the pepper gel directive the day after the arbitrator’s decision. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see a minister responding to a concern with urgency, particularly when it’s connected to a story that has, as its un- derlying narrative, years of inaction. But on the other, there is reason to be concerned that Asagwara has not fully considered the implications of their decision. The minister is clearly aware that health-care staff face a constant threat of violence. Between skyrocketing mental-health and addictions problems and a hospital system that is over- flowing and gridlocked, patients and their families are frustrated. And that frustration is being directed at staff. The MNU’s grievance and the arbitrator’s final report clearly show that in Manitoba, Shared Health failed to act in a timely manner to address safety concerns in and around parking facilities at the campus. At a time when the province is desperately trying to recruit 1,000 new health-care workers, a failure of that kind seems hilariously counter-intui- tive. However, while the minister has correctly assessed the threats facing staff, it’s not clear Asagwara has cor- rectly assessed the impact of arming hospital security with something as dangerous as pepper gel spray. Proponents will point out that pepper gel is one of the most-reliable, non-le- thal tools that can be employed by security personnel. They will further note that pepper gels and foams are more accurate than the more common pepper spray when deployed, and less harmful to both the person using them and others who may be in close prox- imity to the target. The plume from traditional aerosol pepper spray is extremely difficult to contain and, when used indoors, it can invade ventilation systems and take hours to fully decontaminate a room where it has been deployed. However, there is no consensus that pepper gel is a good idea in a hospital setting, where patients and staff are in close proximity to each other. At hearings on the MNU grievance, there was testimony from Marc Sain- don, director of security services at HSC. A former police officer, Saindon said that while aerosol weapons could be safely used outside, the deployment inside a hospital would create signifi- cant contamination problems. Based on the fact that no other testi- mony or evidence was brought forward at the grievance in support of using pepper gels inside a hospital, Gibson declined to issue an order that they be used by HSC security. You may ask, what evidence does the minister have that the arbitrator did not? Most of the research and reporting on pepper gels indicates that while it causes less collateral contamination than traditional sprays, it does not eliminate the problem. And with a spray range of seven or more metres, it’s not hard to imagine innocent bystanders being affected if a security guard’s aim is off by a smidge. Finally, it is somewhat disconcerting that there seems to have been precious little consideration about whether the introduction of better-armed secu- rity will act as a deterrent to violent behaviour, or trigger more of it. It may be instructive to remem- ber that this community and many others are struggling with the best way to intervene in mental-health and addictions crises without the use of uniformed police because it is well established that uniforms and weap- ons tend to provoke as many violent incidents as they quell. Something must be done to protect staff from the rising tide of violence. But someone is going to have to pro- duce compelling evidence that batons and pepper gel actually make the hospital safer. The minister is, no doubt, aware that “do no harm” is one of the most important overarching principles in health care. Until we get more evi- dence, it’s going to be hard to see how pepper gel fits into that principle. dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com DAN LETT OPINION MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS A complement of 12 institutional safety officers have been trained to work at Health Sciences Centre. HSC’s new safety officers unarmed on first day CAROL SANDERS Guards were directed to carry pepper gel Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara Israel vows response to Iran’s missile attack amid calls for restraint JOSEF FEDERMAN ;