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Author: David Kramer

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Uncategorized

Here’s how you can make a difference for Ukraine, right now!

As the tragic situation in Ukraine continues, here is a list of Israeli organizations that are helping on the ground.

When I wrote State Of The Heart, I interviewed many people and organizations that are involved in global humanitarian aid work from Israel. What struck me this week, is that almost every one of them are currently helping in Ukraine.

I have therefore compiled the following list of organizations that are currently assisting with disaster relief efforts and more in Ukraine and surrounding areas from Israel. If you are looking for a way to get involved and make a difference, here are 16 efforts to support:

(Assisted by: SID, OLAM, JPOST, MASHAV and others.)

Demonstrators carry placards and flags during a protest against the Russian invasion to the Ukraine, in Jerusalem, on February 24, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

NATAN – Worldwide Disaster Relief:

NATAN has opened a health clinic in Poland near the border with Ukraine. The clinic will provide medical care and counseling to refugees. Natan’s work is done in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

UNITED HATZALAH:

United Hatzalah’s humanitarian aid mission to Ukraine established itself on the Ukrainian border with Moldova in order to provide medical and psychological treatment as well as humanitarian aid to refugees who are fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. The jump team, which is comprised of 12 EMTs, paramedics, doctors, a dentist, and members of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, will be tasked with providing initial aid, assessing needs, and building a comprehensive long-term treatment plan. In Moldova, they were met with additional team members joining from Miami, Florida.

ZAKA:

Zaka volunteers are assisting in areas near the Ukrainian border that have become refugee camps, to which many Jewish refugees have fled. The teams are equipped with food and medicine for the displaced people. In addition, ZAKA Ukraine volunteers, backed by ZAKA rescue units in Israel, helped evacuate a Jewish family that were injured in a missile attack in Kyiv the first weekend of March.

UNICEF ISRAEL:

UNICEF Israel, another organization listed, in collaboration with the Israeli company TytoCare, will provide 50 remote medical devices that will allow children in isolated villages in eastern Ukraine to be tested and remotely monitored by doctors and nurses. The devices were transferred to 10 medical centers in eastern Ukraine.

Volunteers from United Hatzalah helping Ukrainian refugees in Moldova.

ISRAAID:

An emergency delegation by IsraAID is located in Moldova and is assisting refugees from Ukraine. The delegation will provide psychosocial support in addition to hygiene kits and additional emergency equipment for refugees.

SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER

“Sheba Beyond”, the virtual hospital of Sheba Medical Center is taking part in the United Hatzalah humanitarian aid mission. The program sent advanced technological equipment that is being used to set up a remote medicines station. With the help of these measures, doctors from a variety of areas of expertise in Sheba Medical Center are assisting medically, and remotely to perform procedures in real-time together with the teams in the field.

Wounded Ukrainians arrive in Israel for medical treatment, MADA

SMARTAID

Israeli humanitarian aid group, SmartAID flew in pallets of emergency relief supplies from Florida. These supplies include hygiene kits that were requested by a group of Polish physicians working on the ground in the affected areas. The organization also is working with local corporate partners to set up Wi-Fi hot spots providing Internet access for international relief workers and first responders, as well as for refugees.

DREAM DOCTORS PROJECT – MEDICAL CLOWNING:

Israeli medical clowns from Dream Doctors went on an emergency to Chisinau, Moldova, to provide vital humanitarian relief to Ukrainian refugees there. The organization provides psychological relief to children and adults in disaster areas worldwide.

ISRAELI FRIENDS OF UKRAINE:

Israeli Friends of Ukraine is the largest pro-Ukrainian organization in Israel, which has operated in cooperation with the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel for nearly a decade. The organization has opened collection points around Israel to collect supplies, including diapers (for babies and adults), baby formula, thermal clothing, sleeping bags, and medical supplies.

*MASHAV:

The State of Israel, through MASHAV-Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation and the Ministry of Health, are preparing to assist Ukraine through the establishment of a field hospital, launching generators for operation, launching water purification systems, and water supply kits. In addition, humanitarian needs, such as medicines, winter tents, blankets, and coats have been delivered to both Ukraine and the surrounding region.

THE JEWISH AGENCY:

The Israeli government expects 20,000 Ukrainian Jews to emigrate to Israel, 10 percent of the estimated Jewish population in Ukraine, and says it is also seeing a rise in applications from Russian Jews. Teams from the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit organization that operates in coordination with the Israeli government and assists Jews interested in immigrating to Israel, are waiting in several European countries to organize their emigration.

SID ISRAEL:

SID-Israel partners and other Jewish and Israeli organizations are on the ground in Ukraine, working to deliver funds, food, medical supplies, psychological support, and other much-needed supplies and services to the people of Ukraine, including those who have fled their homes, those who can’t escape, and those who have chosen to remain. SID Israel has joined forces with partners OLAM and JDC-GRID, and with the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR), to map out a list of our collective partner organizations involved in these efforts, and their needs

LATET – ISRAELI HUMANITARIAN AID :

In collaboration with United Hazala, LATET donated hundreds of emergency packages sent to Ukrainian refugees including food, blankets, winter equipment.

JDC EMERGENCY CENTER FOR THE JEWS OF UKRAINE – TEL. +380947111104
In a joint venture between the JDC and TechForGood, with the support of Pelephone and Bezeq International, which donated the technological infrastructure free of charge, a telephone emergency center was established for the Jewish community in the country. The center is staffed by Israeli volunteers, including JDC workers from Israel who provide a solution for Ukrainian Jews, including thousands of elderly, Holocaust survivors, families with poverty and children with special needs who communicate and flood various needs, from food and medication, through listening to stress relief and physical assistance. In addition, the JDC provided a technological infrastructure for collecting information from the center, and passing it on to the organization’s teams in the field, who can provide a quick and efficient response to existing needs.

WORLD ORT: 

All ORT schools in Ukraine have closed, and the mobility of all Ukrainians is severely limited. World ORT is raising funds and working its partners to provide basic needs, transport, and trauma response – for its students, teachers, and families. These needs include food with a long shelf-life, water, shelter, matches and lighters, batteries and portable chargers, bio-toilets, LED torches, walkie-talkies, first aid kits, and essential medicines. Funds will also be used to reinforce the safety of ORT schools.

COLEL CHABAD:

Colel Chabad, one of the oldest charities in Israel has launched a campaign to assist Ukrainian refugees in Israel. Each refugee is being provided with a Colel Chabad Food and Clothing Credit Card.
The head of household receives $675 per month plus $125 for each child.

 

Categories
IDF

Crimes For Humanity

icc-getty
icc-getty

IDF soldiers are guilty of Crimes For Humanity

By David Kramer, Arutz 7

The recent announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a probe of War Crimes against Israeli actions and soldiers requires an investigation into the behavior of Israel’s (IDF) soldiers and their treatment toward their fellow human beings. It also begs an examination into the State Of Israel’s attitude and dealings with of its Palestinian neighbors. I took the opportunity to look further into this and came up with the following findings:

  1. The Israeli Medical Officer:

On June 1, 2015, an emotional reunion occurred at the Mt. Scopus Hadassah Hospital campus between a Palestinian family and an Israeli army medical officer who had saved the life of their baby son as they crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan into Israel the week before. The baby had suffered a cardiac arrest at the crossing and an IDF medical team led by 23-year-old Lt. Ronen Kessler quickly arrived at the scene and performed CPR before the baby was evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah. Kessler and division medical officer Moran Gershoni later visited the family at the hospital. “They were really happy to see us,” Kessler said. “Most of the time, the father spoke English. He told us what had happened before they got to the crossing and kept thanking us for what we did. The mother also thanked us and even hugged Gershoni. It was very exciting, but it’s not easy to see a boy of six months in such bad shape.” “I appreciate everything that IDF soldiers did, and they were praying for my boy,” the baby’s father said. “They gave him first aid and took him by helicopter to Hadassah, even though he is not Israeli but Palestinian.” Gershoni said the army’s medical treatment of Palestinians in such cases was unexceptional. “Yesterday we performed CPR on a 16-month-old Palestinian infant with a candy stuck in its throat. On Friday, we were treating an injured Palestinian who was brought to the base gate in an unconscious state,” Moran said. “Everyone who needs care is taken care of,” Gershoni emphasized. Kessler added that the IDF does not differentiate between “blood and blood;” “That’s what we swore to do and what we uphold every day. “The world probably will not see these images,” he reflected, stressing that “they represent the real army and our values.

  1. The Israeli Army Sniper

In June 2014, During the war in Gaza between IDF soldiers and Hamas militants, the following testimony was given by IDF Sergeant Gedaliah F., a 20-year-old sniper in the Nachal Brigade, who went into Gaza on the first day of the ground operation. Over the phone he shared the following account with Tower Magazine: “I’m a sniper in my unit and we were shot at from a school about 250 meters (800 feet) away. I couldn’t see into the school because the windows were tinted. And it just puts you in this very hard position. You don’t want to shoot at a school. What if there are kids there? You can’t just shoot if you don’t see what you’re shooting at. It’s a school. But on the other hand, you’re being shot at by an enemy sniper. It really hits two ends of the spectrum and you really don’t know what to do. And it was like that throughout the entire war. We were in Beit Hanoun. I’m almost 100 percent sure that it was an UNRWA school. People in my unit remember it having a UN flag. If I had to guess, it was. It was a big beautiful white building with blue frames in the middle of a village of grey buildings with no rooftops. [The IDF confirmed that this incident took place at an UNRWA school.] There were tons of buildings that were higher than that school. He [the terrorist] clearly chose that spot not because it was higher up. He knew the consequences of us shooting there and he tried to use that against us.”

  1. The Israeli Fighter Pilot:

Captain Dor is a 26-year-old Air Force pilot from Tel Aviv who serves in the 106th Squadron in the Israeli Air Force. He began his service eight years ago and while taking a rare break from the fighting between Israel and Hamas, during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014, shared his “bird-eye” testimony of events: “For me on a personal level, it was very hard bombing at night when you’re waiting for clearance to strike and you see rockets coming out of Gaza. At night you see them very clearly. They light up the sky. And you realize that now in Tel Aviv and Ashdod and Sderot, people are running to bomb shelters. It’s almost surreal to see these rockets close up, lighting up the sky in front of you, just as your friends and family are running to bomb shelters. You know that this rocket launcher is your target but you can’t attack because you have to wait for clearance to make sure that there are no civilians in the area where the rocket is being launched. Only once you know your target is clear, and there are no civilians nearby, then that is the time to strike. I saw several occasions where Gazans ran to the roof of a building that had been warned of an imminent strike, or people simply remaining where they were and that’s the biggest of all the dilemmas we face. . . . Every strike mission I went on had those dilemmas. . . . Many times as a pilot you’re very close to releasing a bomb and sometimes with five seconds or three seconds to launch, you abort the mission because there are civilians in the vicinity and you’re not willing to take those risks. Sometimes the civilians aren’t exactly in the target but they’re close enough that you feel that if you attack they could get hurt. So sometimes you come back for landing with all your bombs, because you’re waiting two hours and still the target wasn’t clear. About 20 to 30 percent of the targets I was assigned to were aborted for that reason. I saw targets in schoolyards, in parks next to swings, and you realize that Hamas takes the most innocent place, like next to a swing, and builds a rocket launcher there. In his mind, the Israeli Air Force won’t attack it because there’s a good chance there will be children nearby. And for Hamas, when children are killed, it is considered a great success. In this way, they manage to force the Israelis to harm innocent children “by accident.” We do everything in our power to avoid it, which is a paradox. You do everything in your power to make the Gaza civilians safe, and Hamas does everything in its power to keep civilians in danger.”

A further inquiry into what leading international experts say on the matter reveal some interesting conclusions:

  1. In the Gaza war of 2014, during an operational mission in the Shejaiya neighborhood, Israeli soldiers found a Hamas “doctrine manual” which documented how the terror group urged its fighters to embed themselves among civilians in hopes that the “IDF will kill civilians.” Members of Hamas are acutely aware of the IDF’s rules of engagement and the Israeli fighting ethic – to do the utmost to avoid civilian casualties – and they exploit this moral stance by using their citizens as human shields, in direct violation of human rights and the Geneva Convention.
  2. On a fact-finding mission into the Gaza war in 2014, professor of international law, Willy Stern of Vanderbilt Law School reflected, “It was abundantly clear that IDF commanders had gone beyond any mandates that international law requires to avoid civilian casualties.”
  3. During the same battle in Gaza, Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Casey tweeted an image of a Hamas spokesman giving an interview at a Gaza hospital with sounds of the shelling clearly heard in the background. “You have to wonder . . . how patients at Shifa Hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to show the media.” The tweet was later deleted. According to Middle East analyst Matthew Levitt, Hamas had been planting weapons in areas inhabited by vulnerable residents for a long time. “It happens in schools,” he wrote in Middle East Quarterly. “Hamas has buried caches of arms and explosives under its own kindergarten playgrounds…”
  4. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs director, John Ging, reported to CBC News on July 30, 2014 during the fighting in Gaza. “Yes, the armed
    groups [in Gaza] are firing their rockets into Israel from the vicinity of UN facilities and residential areas, absolutely.” William Booth of the Washington Post reported during one temporary ceasefire in Gaza 2014, that he saw a “group of men” at a mosque in northern Gaza. They said they had returned to clean up glass from shattered windows. “But they could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque,” Booth wrote. He also reported that Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had, “become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.”
  5. Following Operation Cast Lead, the United Nations Human Rights Council set up an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone. The findings came to be known as the “Goldstone Report.” The initial inquiry accused Israel of, “using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and using people as human shields.” However, almost two years later, following an additional report by a separate U.N. committee of independent experts, Richard Goldstone’s reversed his conclusion in an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post, April 1, 2011. “We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war,” Goldstone admitted. “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” Those investigations, he said, indicate that, “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.” In the article Goldstone says that the UN report recognized and accepted the findings of IDF investigations into alleged allegations
  6. During Operation Cast Lead, 2008–2009, the IDF dropped more than 2,250,000 leaflets during the fighting and made personal telephone warnings to more than 165,000 Gaza residents.

In addition, I found the following information pertaining toward Israel’s treatment of its Palestinian neighbors:

  1. The annual Peace Index Survey conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University revealed that for the past 20 years, the majority of Israeli’s (over 60%) want peace with their Palestinian neighbors, although they disagree on how that should be achieved.
  2. Several previous attempts to negotiate peace with the Palestinians including the Oslo Accords, Camp David Summit, Taba Talks, the Arab peace talks and “Road Map”, where attempts where made to offer the Palestinians a state of their own, failed miserably and were followed by years of Palestinian terror attacks in which thousands of Israeli’s were killed and injured.
  3. Israel currently has peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt and recently signed the Abraham Accords, which has ushered in a fresh era of Middle East cooperation and peace with countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco
  4. Since 2000, over 20,000 Palestinian terror rockets were fired indiscriminately against Israeli citizens. These rockets have hit Israeli homes, schools, kindergardens, industrial areas and intend to kill as many as possible. In addition, thousands of other Palestinian terror attacks have targeted Israeli’s including stabbings, vehicle attacks, bombs etc. in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
  5. There are currently no ICC probes against the Palestinian leadership and the various Palestinian terror organizations for these documented crimes against humanity
  6. Israel’s security barrier separating Israel from the West Bank was built in direct response to the wave of Palestinian terror attacks during the Second Intifada, a 5-year period between 2000-2005, in which over 1000 Israeli’s were killed in suicide bombings and other terror attacks. The project, which has the overwhelming support of the Israeli public and deemed legal by Israel’s Supreme Court, has by in large been successful in protecting Israeli civilians.
  7. Israel saves more Palestinian lives than any other country, nation or entity worldwide – on average over 100,000 Palestinians arrive at Israeli hospitals, annually, for life-saving and other medical treatment, which they cannot receive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli doctors and nurses including Jewish, Arab and Christians offer them first class treatment, without discrimination.

My findings conclude that there seems to be a disconnect between the ICC accusations against Israel and the reality on the ground. My research brings the motivations and integrity of the ICC court and judges into question. I suggest a further look into the matter before going to court.

Categories
Education

25 smartest countries in the world

How smart is the country you live in? Very interesting to read Forbes report and ranking of the 25 smartest countries in the world.

Voucherclowd performed the research and rated countries collective intelligence according to three factors: the number of Nobel Prizes each nation has won to represent historic intelligence, the current average IQ and ‘education attainment’ to represent the potential intelligence of the next generation.

What’s interesting to note is Asia’s dominance in the top 5 spots for average IQ and educational attainment with Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan picking up top spots. The United States only racked up 28th spot for average IQ, 4 spots ahead of Russia but way off China in second place.

As an Israeli, it’s firstly good to see Israel amongst the top spots and quite impressive coming in 15th for average IQ and Nobel Prizes but 42nd for average IQ.

Categories
humanitarian assistance Innovation Nonprofit

Light up Africa

Native-born Israeli, Sivan Ya’ari, landed her first job in Africa in 1998, as the head of quality control for a multinational clothing company. The experience provided her with first-hand exposure to the poverty that exists in the African continent, motivating her to complete a Master’s degree in Energy and Environment from Columbia University and start Innovation: Africa, an organization that has so far impacted the lives of over one million African people, granting them access to clean water and energy.

I met Sivan at an incubator for social entrepreneurs in Jerusalem in 2010, where she explained this drive: Only when I found myself in Africa did I understand what true poverty really meant, Sivan told me. She described the following account of her life-changing moment: One day I walked to the nearest infirmary, which was about five miles away from the village. Upon my arrival, I discovered a long line of people waiting to be treated. I asked to see the doctor and was told that there are no doctors here. I approached the nurse and asked her about the long line of people waiting for treatment and vaccinations. There are no vaccinations or medicines left – they have been spoiled as we do not have a refrigerator to store them. We have no electricity. It was night by the time I made my way back from the clinic and darkness covered the entire village. I have given birth twice in Israel via C-section. Had I lived in Africa, I would not have survived. Many women die during child birth due to severe understaffing and the lack of electricity for light and medical devices. The nurses are using toxic kerosene lamps to provide light during the delivery. When I grasped the situation in the villages, it was difficult for me to remain indifferent to these challenges, especially because the solution seemed so simple.

The more time Sivan spent in Africa and in the villages the more she realized that the main challenge Africa is facing is the lack of energy. Without energy, people do not have access to good healthcare or good education. Crucially, the lack of energy means that people don’t have access to water because there is no energy to pump the water up from beneath the ground. The severity of seeing mothers and children searching for water, for hours every day, even digging by hand and drinking whatever they could find, knowing that it will most likely make them sick, made Sivan realize that energy is truly the key solution to solve many of the challenges she saw. After considering the advanced technological efforts and innovations in her native country, Sivan decided to share Israeli technologies and know-how and in 2008, she founded here own organization Innovation: Africa (iA). IA is a 501-c3 non-profit based in New York, with offices in Israel and Africa.

The goal was simple and since then, iA has provided energy for light and to pump water using Israeli solar technology to more than 1 million people in communities throughout Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Zambia. To date, they have brought light, pumped clean water and installed drip irrigation in over 200 villages. To ensure that the systems are operating effectively they use a custom-designed remote monitoring system that collects data from the solar systems and sends that information to an online server allowing Sivan’s team, the donors and the local engineers to monitor all systems, live. By knowing how much energy our projects are producing and consuming, we can preempt problems before they even start, explained Sivan.

In 2017, Sivan and her team visited Akuyam Village in Uganda. Located in the Nakapirpirit District in the north-east Karamoja Region, it is home to 4,600 people. At the time, the region was suffering from severe drought and famine. When the iA team arrived, they found a horrific situation. Thirty-seven people died of hunger and dehydration that week alone. The only source of water for the community was a pool of dirty and contaminated water which had dried up, forcing women to walk great distances in search of an alternative source, often with no success.

Understanding the severity of the situation Sivan and her team for the first time in iA’s history, sent trucks of beans and maize from a region six hours away, just to keep the community alive while they started drilling and the building of the solar water tower. Within days, iA had installed 12 taps supplying clean water throughout the village as well as a drip irrigation system which allowed the community to grow food faster, using less water. Through Innovation: Africa’s work to harness the energy from the sun and pump water up from forty meters below the ground, the community in Akuyam is now thriving. People are healthier, children are going to school, and most importantly, access to water allows them to grow more food and sell the surplus in the market enabling the community to become self-sufficient and financially independent. This was just one of hundreds of similar installations undertaken by this Israeli NGO.

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Categories
Healthcare

Miracle Mission from Jerusalem to Ethiopia

On a recent trip to Ethiopia, eight doctors, three nurses and one physical therapist from the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem travelled on a weeklong medical mission to the city of Mekelle, in the African country’s north.

Led by Dr. Josh Schroeder, a spine surgeon at Hadassah and Dr. Allon Moses, the chairman of Hadassah’s Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, the Israeli medical team performed five surgeries at the Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. The hospital serves some eight million people but does not have a spine surgeon.

The Ethiopian patients, aged 18 and under, all suffered from twisted spines as a result of various spinal deformities and travelled from far-flung villages to receive the treatment in Mekelle. Their conditions were critical and were causing potentially lethal complications, including pressure on internal organs and lung infections. The Israeli doctors assessed that without surgery the patients might die within the year. The surgeries were complex, with some taking eight hours.

In addition to performing the five surgeries, the Israelis also provided medical training to Ayder staff. The medical device company Medtronic donated the equipment necessary for the surgeries. The Hadassah and Ayder hospitals have a partnership dating back many years, with Israeli medical students doing rotations in Mekelle, and Ayder physicians receiving training and supplies from Hadassah.

One of the nurses of the mission was Tsheay (Orna) Tadoses-Solomon, herself an immigrant to Israel from Ethiopia in the 1980s with Operation Moses. This was Tadoses-Solomon’s first time returning to Ethiopia, albeit under very different circumstances – today she is the deputy head nurse in the recovery room at Hadassah-University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus.

Before conducting the surgeries the Israeli doctors fixed a mezuzah to the doorpost of the surgery room, as is traditional in all operating rooms in Israel, because as one of the doctors said, It’s a branch of Hadassah in Israel. In the end, all five surgeries were successful and within the week the Ethiopian teenagers were able to stand upright and start walking.

Categories
Value of life

Down the tunnel after Hadar Goldin

During the fighting in the Gaza Strip in 2014, Hamas terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft in the vicinity of a group of Israeli soldiers. One of the terrorists proceeded to detonate himself, killing three IDF soldiers in the process and kidnapping the body of one of them, Lt. Hadar Goldin, dragging him down the same tunnel from where these terrorists had emerged.

Believing that Hadar might still be alive, Lt. Eitan, one of Hadar’s good friends along with three soldiers under his command, chased after the terrorists into the pitch-dark tunnel for hundreds of meters, fully aware of a possible ambush and without any prior knowledge as to where they were going or how to get back. “I went four meters (13 feet) down into the tunnel when it began to collapse,” recalled Eitan. “I could hardly see anything; and stones were obscuring the light. I returned to the surface, took my equipment, my helmet and gun, and went back into the tunnel with my soldiers.” Before entering the tunnel, he told his commander, “If I’m not back in 5 minutes, I’m dead.”

As a result of the pursuit, Eitan and his team found evidence that later helped the military rabbinate (religious authority) draw the conclusion that Goldin had been killed before his body was taken. In an emotional encounter at the Goldin family house that week, Eitan came to present the family with belongings of their son and speak to his family.

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin was paying a shiva (mourning) call at the time and spoke to Eitan.

“You may take your act of heroism for granted, but it gives us a lot of hope,” the president told him. “Your decision is awe-inspiring. Your soldiers are heroes on a personal level, and also on a national and moral level.”

As of the 24th November 2020, Hadar Goldin’s body has still not been returned by Hamas, in violation of international law as defined by the Geneva Convention.

Categories
Coexistence Healthcare

A Patients Letter to Staff at Sharee Zedek Hospital

On April 10, 2019 I met with Audrey Gross who works in the Public Affairs department of Shaare Zedek Hospital (“Gates of Righteousness”) in Jerusalem. Shaare Zedek is today the city’s fastest growing hospital and the only major medical facility in the city’s center. Shaare Zedek is well known internationally for its emergency response systems which have been extensively developed and sadly put to the ultimate test due to the area’s ongoing battle with terrorism. This includes an extensive decontamination system capable of responding to terrorist attacks involving chemical warfare. Shaare Zedek acts as the on-call facility for the entire Jerusalem area responsible to respond in the event of such attacks. During our discussion, Audrey told me how the hospital, like many of Israel’s major hospitals, treats thousands of Palestinian and Arab patients every year and when I asked if she knows the exact number, she answered it doesn’t matter since the hospital treats every patient the same regardless of their origin, religion or ethnicity. She told me the following story to illustrate the point:

In 2019, two volunteers from abroad had come to distribute gifts at the hospital to newborn babies and their families. Audrey accompanied them to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). They approached a young Arab woman, wearing a hijab on her head and tightly holding her newborn child. Initially the young mother ignored the two volunteers until they started speaking to her in their native English tongue and she responded saying that she too was born in America before her parents sent her to Israel to get married. They spoke for a while and then parted ways leaving the new mother a few gifts for her child.

A few months later as Audrey walked past the NICU, the same Arab woman spotted her, ran up to her and gave her a big hug. She proceeded to tell Audrey her story. Tragically, the day they had first met in the ward, was the day that her baby, suffering from a terminal illness, had died. Before the birth doctors gave the unborn child a zero percent chance of survival. Still, the mother decided to go ahead with the pregnancy, motivated by the feeling that there was a lesson to be learned from the experience, no matter how difficult it would be. She described her amazement by the extent to which the Israeli doctors tirelessly worked to save her Arab child, which totally contradicted what she had learned and understood of Israel’s attitude towards their Arab neighbors. Noticing Audrey’s surprise at seeing her in the NICU, the young mother opened her bag revealing gifts she had bought to distribute to other sick kids and their families in the ward. She explained that from the moment she met the hospital staff, she was treated like any other expectant mother, which took her mind off of the suffering she was dealing with, and now she wished to show the same kindness and compassion that she received. She described her volunteer activities with an organization called “First Hug,” whose volunteers come and spend time applying the kangaroo method, a technique of newborn care where babies are kept chest-to-chest and skin-to-skin. These are newborn babies that have been abandoned or do not receive enough skin-to-skin contact with their families for various reasons. Shortly after seeing Audrey, the bereaved mother penned the following letter to the staff of the NICU:

“It is with a heavy heart that I’m writing you this thank you note. As you know my precious baby girl passed away six days before she turned a month old. Although we were all prepared for her not to live a long life, we definitely were not expecting it to be this short, especially with the new diagnosis we had been given. Yet, such is life. A constant reminder of things we can and cannot control. Countless times I was told to abort while pregnant, that her life expectancy was very short, if anything at all. For whatever reason, I held on to the hope that whatever was meant to come from her life, no matter how short, would be for good. And good it was indeed. I was shown a generosity and kindness that I can’t properly express in words. Inside Shaare Zedek, there was no Palestinian/Israeli struggle. You all did your jobs like angels sent from God. My child was not shown any less love than the sweet Jewish boy next to her. You smiled and loved my daughter like any other child being cared for. You all have restored my belief in the goodness of humanity; we are all working for the betterment of our children. Our daughter was named according to the Muslim and Jewish doctors working side by side at NICU, Shaare Zedek Hospital. (Shaare Zedek Hospital) Arabic word for faith, and it’s exactly what gives meaning to our lives. Even in the darkest days, it’s our belief in faith that things will get better, that we can handle our sorrows, and overcome the obstacles we face. If I could thank each of you individually, trust me that I would. I grew so accustomed to seeing you all more than my own family. You will never fully know the appreciation I have for the job that you do. There is a bond that grows between you all and the parents in the NICU, no doubt about it. So if I happen to see you around sometime, don’t be surprised if I stop you to say hello! After all, you were such a huge part of my life and for that I will forever be grateful. Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kindness you not only showed me, my husband, and my family . . . but for your unrelenting support and encouragement you gave to my precious baby girl, Faith. Sincerely yours, N

Categories
Wildlife

An Animals Best Friend

When Israeli photojournalist, Ofir Drori, left for a trip to Africa, following four years in the Israeli army, he never would have imagined that this decision would change his life and that he would become an award-winning wildlife activist, spearheading the fight against the illegal animal trafficking industry in Africa.

While travelling to Cameroon, Drori was approached by a wildlife trafficker offering to sell him a young chimpanzee. The baby chimp was sick and abused and it was being treated like a rat. Drori’s visit with the police began with asking for bribes and ended with an offer for an additional illegal baby chimp. After telling the men marketing the chimpanzee that he represented an international anti-trafficking NGO, he threatened to lock them in jail for trafficking. They fell for it and gave the chimp to Drori and he named him Future.

Researching his experience later on, Drori discovered that in the previous 10 years, there had been few if any incidents in which forest-covered Africa’s many wildlife trafficking laws had been enforced. He also uncovered a massive illegal intercontinental ivory trade. According to Drori, corruption ruled African wildlife trade. Since his work began, Drori’s organization has been involved in more than 1,400 arrests and prosecutions of major wildlife criminals with one group alone singularly responsible for the killing of 36,000 elephants. Drori established The Last Great Ape Organization (LAGA) that was later replicated in nine countries forming The EAGLENetwork where Eco Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement led to hundreds of arrests and prosecutions of wildlife criminals.

Drori empowers a network of African activists to carry undercover investigations, conduct arrest operations, and implement legal follow up. In 2016 alone: • 286 wildlife and forest criminals were arrested in eight countries • 99 ivory traffickers arrested with the total of 1.5 tons of ivory, including more than 100 tusks and 263 pieces of carved ivory • 34 great ape traffickers were arrested with three live chimp babies, 68 chimpanzee skulls, 26 gorilla skulls and other body parts • The former wildlife head and the CITES authority of Guinea who was involved in large scale international wildlife trafficking and corruption for more than 10 years, was arrested • A large international trader involved in the illegal trade in CITES species such as chimpanzees, manatees and other primates, arrested in Guinea • A significant international bird trafficker was arrested in Senegal with 111 critically endangered Timneth Parrots and thousands of other endangered birds • Two ivory traffickers were arrested in Gabon with 206 kilograms (450 pounds) of ivory – the largest amount in Gabonese history. Drori has won several awards for his work.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh bestowed on him the World Wildlife Fund conservation medal at Buckingham Palace. At the award ceremony, a WWF official spoke of Drori’s accomplishments and told the participants that, It is thanks to people like Ofir Drori that we still have a hope of keeping vulnerable elephants and other wildlife populations thriving – and keeping a spotlight on the poaching crisis that threatens them. I applaud his bold and impactful work. 

Much of what Drori and his team undertake to accomplish involves considerable risk. And although they have very strict security and contingency procedures, incidents do occur occasionally. He admits that, There are times that I really cannot sleep before we find an activist who has been missing for an hour. With operations in nine countries, that’s a huge responsibility for the lives of people. And indeed, in 2013, he had a near-death experience with a crocodile in Ethiopia. While recovering at a hospital in the coastal Israeli city of Haifa, he met his future wife. He continues to share his model with other activist groups in Africa and around the world and remains optimistic that corruption can be stopped and that the situation can improve worldwide. He has written a book about his experiences entitled The Last Great Ape: A Journey through Africa and a Fight for the Heart of the Continent.

Categories
Value of life

Drama on Everest

In May 2012 Israeli mountain climber and photographer Nadav Ben Yehuda was only 300 meters from the summit of Mount Everest and on his way to becoming the youngest Israeli to climb the world’s highest mountain, when he spotted someone lying inside a crack in the ice, clearly in trouble. He recognized Aydin Irmak, a Turkish climber he had first met down at base camp lying unconscious in the ice. He had no oxygen system, gloves or shelter. At the time, more than 200 climbers were also making the ascent to Everest, trying to reach the top before the weather deteriorated. Set on reaching the summit, or just too exhausted by the altitude, they passed right by Aydin without offering to help.

With time running out and in the darkness, Nadav abandoned the goal he had been training himself for over the past two years and stopped his ascent. He connected Irmak to his harness and held him, as together they descended for eight hours, in complete darkness and in minus 60 degrees centigrade temperature (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit), until Nadav’s fourth rest-camp at 8,050 meters. During those hours, Nadav’s oxygen system broke, and his right hand became paralyzed from severe frostbites. From that point it took 23 more hours to reach camp number two (6,450 meters), the highest point a helicopter could land in the harsh conditions. From there, they were both evacuated to Base Camp, and then back to Kathmandu for medical treatment.

As a result of the rescue, Nadav lost 19kg of his body weight, and was at great risk of amputation of his right-hand fingers, and parts of his toes from both feet. When interviewed several days later by an Israeli paper, Ben Yehuda said, It was very hard to carry him because he was very heavy. At times he would regain consciousness, and then faint again. When he woke up he would scream in pain, which made it even more difficult. If I had continued climbing, he would have died for certain. Other climbers just passed him by but I had no second thoughts. I knew that I had to save him.

I would have died on the mountain. It was a miracle . . .”Irmak said. I remember falling down. I woke up with Nadav standing over me and shouting my name. Nadav did a great thing. He built a bridge between Turkey and Israel, and our leaders can learn a lot from him. . . . I may have missed the summit, but I gained a new brother.

For publicity-shy Nadav, who went on to receive a Presidential Medal of Honor from the late president Shimon Peres, the decision to save the life of 46-year-old Aydin Irmak was automatic. In a telephone interview with the Associated Press from Nepal, Ben Yehuda attributed his decision in part to his military training in Israel. You never leave a man in the field, he said.  A person’s life, any person’s life, is more valuable than anything else. Before being presented the Medal of Honor, Ben Yehuda tried to dodge the ceremony saying, I heard about the people who received this medal, and I don’t think I am in the same caliber. Some of these people did amazing things.

Categories
News

Abraham Accords – History in the making

United Arab Emirate officials arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport this afternoon kicking off agreements of the Abraham Accord, signed between Israel and the UAE in Washington last month.   The Etihad 787-10 Dreamliner arrived with 58 passengers on board and was greeted in a festive ceremony.

“We are very excited to be here,” the flight’s captain Saleh Abdullah said. “Hopefully this is the beginning of a good relationship between UAE and Israel and if someone asked me a few months ago if I would be here making a speech in Tel Aviv, I would have said this is impossible,” he said.

Today is also the first day of rain in Israel- which is called גשם של ברכה- “Rain Of blessings!”   Let’s hope this ushers in a new year of hope and blessings for Israel and the entire region!!

Image Credit: AFP