23:20. Ihud Hatzalah volunteers receive a call about a serious car accident on Highway 90 (the valley) between Oja and Naama. The scene on the ground is not easy. Three vehicles are involved. Inside one of the vehicles, an old Volvo, a person lies lifeless. They approach the other injured and provide them with life-saving assistance until they are evacuated to hospitals.
00:11. The rumor is circulating in WhatsApp groups that the deceased is a well-known Torah figure. Within seconds, the statement will be accompanied by the phrase "not for publication," and within minutes, a long and detailed eulogy is posted in the groups about Rabbi Zvi Odsar, whose only sin is that he once owned a vehicle that matched the one involved in the accident.
00:38. I wrote in one of the groups I'm connected to that Rabbi Odesser is safe and sound and the deceased is a young man of about 20 years old whose name has not yet been published until the family is informed of the tragedy. Within seconds, I discover that the message I wrote is being circulated in other groups in the famous "Ha'atbek.".
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00:45. I received a new message in one of the groups: Update: It's about Elchanan Toito. Within minutes, the deceased's brother received the news via the same update in the same WhatsApp group.
The new information channels require us all to be extra careful. Everyone reports and information flows at record speed. Because rumors spread like wildfire, every "reporter" must think about who will see the publication and who might be harmed by it.
We all snorted when the mainstream media rushed to publish the identities of the dead before the official announcement reached the family. Much has been written about the case of Rona Ramon, wife of the late pilot and astronaut Ilan Ramon, who learned of the death of their son Assaf, who also perished in a piloting accident, from the media outlets that rushed to receive her response and the legions of photographers who swarmed her home.
How is what happened last night different? Not much. It is true that WhatsApp reporters do not have an editor to restrain them or, alternatively, to encourage them to report first. And precisely because of this, precisely because there is no one to demand that we think about the matter a second time - we, WhatsApp reporters, are required to be more cautious. And precisely because there is also no one urging us to hurry up and publish, there is no reason to act quickly and without discretion.
So, next time, a second before your finger hits the "send" button - think. Think about who might read the "report". Think about who might encounter bitter news in the "update" you want to put out. Remember that you have no one to remind you of this except you.
• The writer is the Deputy CEO of United Hatzalah."
