When
disaster strikes anywhere in the world, Israelis can be counted on
help. So it's no surprise that within hours of the devastating tsunami in the
Indian Ocean, the following humanitarian missions all
departed from the tiny Jewish state:
IDF rescue team on its way to Sri Lanka
The Israeli organization
Latet ('To Give') filled a jumbo jet with 18 tons of supplies. A medical
team headed by four doctors from Jerusalem's
Hadassah Hospital arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday night (Dec. 27), carrying
medicine and baby food. The doctors specialize in rescue operations,
trauma and
pediatrics.
An IDF rescue team is now on its way to Sri Lanka with 80 tons of aid
material, including 10,000 blankets, tents, nylon sheeting and water containers,
all contributed by the IDF.
A ZAKA rescue-and-recovery team arrived in the disaster areas Monday night, armed
with its specialized equipment for identifying bodies.
A Health Ministry contingent left for Thailand on Monday night to aid in
rescue efforts. The group includes doctors, nurses and four members of the
IDF.
Israel has also offered its assistance to India? a search-and-rescue team
from the Home Front Command, as well as consignments of food and medicine.
Yet, with the exception of UPI (as of this writing -
Wed. 4pm EST), none of the major news outlets have dedicated an article to
this remarkable Israeli humanitarian effort. This, despite the fact that
the IDF sent all Israel-based journalists a press release Monday evening
(Dec. 27), inviting them to the
airport to cover the departure of one IDF group.
This is all the more surprising given the fact that the major news agencies
have entire teams of reporters in Israel, who submit at least one
'Israel-article' each day.
So what did the Associated Press send out today to its
15,000 subscribing news agencies? A dreary story about the construction of
a new IDF base near Jenin. AP sarcastically remarked in this 'news'
story that the base's elaborate color scheme and landscaping shows that the
army is not planning to pull its
forces out of the area anytime soon.
The lack of media interest in this Israeli
humanitarian effort means that
Israeli benevolence toward other peoples is not fairly conveyed to the western
world. Perhaps if it were conveyed, observers would come to understand something
else? that Israel's response to Palestinian violence is also motivated by
the highest ethical concern for all human life, and is not (as the media
so
often portray it) driven by an oppressive,
mean-spirited national ethos.
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