Israel Pitches in With Help for Haiti

Henry Srebrnik , [Summerside PEI] Journal-Pioneer

No country in the world has had a worse press in the past year than Israel. The war against Hamas in Gaza last winter created a sense of outrage in many parts of the globe.

Particularly damaging were the findings of a UN-sponsored expert group led by Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa.

The 575-page report, released last September, concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields, and destroyed civilian infrastructure during the war.

In its wake, arrest warrants have been issued for senior Israeli politicians and leaders, dozens of other human rights reports on Israel’s conduct in the war have been widely distributed, and there are ongoing international campaigns to launch boycotts and sanctions against the country.

So the recent earthquake in Haiti was an opportunity for Israel to demonstrate a side usually ignored by its critics: the desire, rooted in the Jewish tradition, of helping those in need.

The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti’s own political infrastructure virtually collapsed, along with most of the buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince, after the massive January 12 earthquake. After all, this is a country where 78 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 per day, and where half the population is illiterate.

So help from outside became an imperative. Canada and the United States have been in the forefront of relief efforts, but Israel’s contribution has also been invaluable.

Ahead of most countries, Israel sent scores of doctors and other professionals to Haiti. The Jewish state has, unfortunately, had much in the way of experience dealing with disasters.

Two planes left Israel almost immediately after the disaster struck. They contained the entire equipment of the Israel Defence Force’s airborne field hospital unit and 221 personnel, including 40 doctors, 24 nurses and 20 paramedics.

The IDF team also brought with them five search-and-rescue teams, sniffer dogs, communication experts, and a security force of soldiers from elite units. The Medical Corps drafted gynecologists, obstetricians and other specialists.

In its first week of operation, the field hospital treated thousands of victims of the earthquake, while Israeli army search teams rescued a number of Haitians from under destroyed buildings.

Remarked Army Brigadier General Shalom Ben Arieh in an interview with London’s Jewish Chronicle, “It is hard to describe the extent of the gratitude of the people here when they realize that people have come from so far away as Israel to help them.”

He said that the IDF delegation would return home only after it was confident that the wounded were receiving proper treatment.

It will take years for Haiti to recover from this calamity and much of the burden for reconstruction will fall on the shoulders of major countries such as Canada, France and the U.S. But hopefully Israel’s contribution will not be forgotten.