israeliaid

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

International The Israeli Response to the Tsunamis by Sherwin Pomerantz The Capital Gang with Robert Novak on CNN on Saturday night, January 8^thjoined a chorus of other critics regarding the alleged lack of response of Israel to the tsunami disaster in southern Asia. Apparently, the question came up about the donor nations and who contributed to the tsunami relief. Novak’s comment was that "Israel was a taker and NOT a giver".

When he was a partner in a syndicated column, well known as Evans and “No Facts”, Novak was more well-known as a bigot. But, Novak outdid his bigotry on the 8th. The facts are that It was the Israelis who immediately jumped into gear when word of the disaster reached the world’s press. They allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars the first day and were boarding their planes with 150 doctors and rescue staff, medicine, aircraft and equipment to Sri Lanka on Tuesday after the tsunamis hit on Sunday. It was the Sri Lankans who refused to accept the personnel, for political reasons. However, Israel nevertheless sent the medicines and equipment and, eventually, a delegation of 50 medical staff headed by four doctors from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital did travel to Sri Lanka as well.

Since the start of the post-tsunami emergency, Israel’s government, local corporations, non-profits and people have contributed generously to relief efforts aiding Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. The Foreign Ministry set aside $100,000 in aid for each of the countries hit by the tsunamis. Israeli non-governmental organizations including Magen David Adom, Latet, IsraAid, and Koach Latet are also active in relief efforts.

Israel also sent their very experienced ZAKA rescue and recovery team the day after the catastrophe. The other forensic teams operating in the area have dubbed the group "the team that sleeps with the dead" because they toil nearly 24 hours a day at Buddhist pagodas transformed into morgues to identify those who died. Recall that they gained their expertise in matching body parts to identities after countless scenes of carnage in terrorist attacks against Jews in Israel where they see about 38 bodies on average a week in Israel. They’re the ones in the TV clips with the white chemical suits who are sorting out the bodies but, despite their red Magen David badges, they are never mentioned as Israelis.

The Lubavitch Chabad House in Thailand and Rabbis there also worked around the clock on rescue and identification efforts.

The Israeli government has sent more than 82 tons of aid in her first shipment, including medicine, water, food, blankets and generators to Sri Lanka, Israel’s non-governmental rescue serves, working with the International Red Cross, have sent 80 tons of food and water - as well as $100,000 worth of blood products. Despite the fact that one third of Israelis live under the poverty level (half of whom are children), they are bringing durable food goods to their local grocery stores for sending to the Tzunami victims.

I wondered about the recent sequence of speeches by President Bush, praising the various NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) - like the Red Cross for their help in assisting the survivors of the Great Wave. I pondered his reluctance to mention Israel who, within hours of the Tsunami, was loading planes with medicine, food and water as well as assembling medical rescue teams. The Jews were not making pledges; they were in instant motion with practical efforts.

The Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Community’s worldwide relief organization for countries in stress, has also raised more than $2 million through phone and Internet contributions. Over $300,000 worth of medicines have been shipped by the JDC to distresses areas of India. $150,000 has been allocated by the JDC for ongoing delivery of relief supplies in the hard-hit Aceh province of Indonesia. They have also allocated $250,000 for the delivery of food, clothing and temporary shelter materials in Chennai, India. A team of specialists has also been dispatched to Sri Lanka to assess the situation there and $150,000 has been allocated to support relief efforts there. The “Joint” is also looking at longer term infrastructure rebuilding projects, such as schools, hospitals, orphanages and medical clinics.

There is a concept in Judaism calledtikkun olam which, loosely translated, means repair of the world. Jewish tradition teaches that it is not enough to take care of one’s own needs but that Jews have an obligation to repair the world, as well, when the need arises. In the case of the tsunamis, certainly a disaster of biblical proportions, the Israeli response was significant and immediate, almost as quick as the world’s uninformed condemnation of its supposed inaction.

What is most sad, of course, is the appalling lack of response by the Arab world, whose coffers have been enriched by the increased cost of oil and who, to this day, can only be classified as cheapskates when it comes to the support that they provided to the victims. But we can probably all die of suffocation if we wait for Robert Novak and his ilk to say anything about that.