HAITI: ISRAELI DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE


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ISRAELI DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE

Many countries and world leaders have accused Israel of responding disproportionately to aggression from Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

However, it is time that the world press and media speak of another disproportionate response from Israel.

The terrible disastrous earthquake in Haiti has generated responses from many nations. The US has sent supplies and personnel, Britain sent 64 firemen and 8 volunteers, France sent troops for Search and Rescue. Many large and wealthy nations of the world sent money. The Arab and Moslem world, nothing.

Israel, a nation of 7.5 million people has sent a team of 220 people that include Medical personnel and will establish the largest field hospital in Haiti, treating up to 5000 people a day, an experienced Search and Rescue team and medical supplies. As in previous earthquake disasters, such as in Gujarat India in 2001 and in Turkey, in the bombings in Kenya, Israel has been one of the most generous givers of aid and assistance. Turkey seems to have forgotten this help as its extreme Moslem Government is cozying up to Iran.

Judge Goldstone, where are you now? Eating your heart out and hanging your head down in shame I hope.

The favorite occupation in the UN is Israel bashing. More resolutions have been passed condemning Israel than all the so called democratic nations such as Sudan, China, Russia and others for their crimes against their minorities.

I think it is time that the world should know about Israel's disproportionate response.
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The Israelis are again engaged in a "disproportionate response", only this time the world, including the USA and Obama, is silent.

CTJ

Israel's Disproportionate Response

Peggy Shapiro
In the midst of the tragedy and chaos in the Haitian capital, Israeli doctors, part of IsraAID -F.I.R.S.T. (the Israel Forum for International Aid), delivered a healthy baby boy in an IDF field hospital. When the baby's grateful mother, Gubilande Jean Michel saw her newborn son, alive and well, she named him Israel in gratitude to the people and nation who brought her this blessing.

Little Israel is one of the hundreds who have been saved by Israeli doctors or rescue teams. A search and rescue team from the ZAKA Israel's International Rescue Unit pulled eight Haitian college students from a collapsed eight-story university building. Despite its small size, Israel sent a large contingent of highly-trained aid workers to quake-stricken Haiti. Two jumbo jets carrying more than 220 doctors, nurses, civil engineers, and other Israeli army personnel, including a rescue team and field hospital, were among the first rescue teams to arrive in Haiti. In fact, they were the first foreign backup team to set up medical treatment at the partially collapsed main hospital in Port-au-Prince. Yigal Palmor, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "It's a large delegation and we're prepared to send more."

The international agencies that condemn Israel for its "disproportionate response" when it is attacked are not mentioning Israel's disproportionate response to human suffering. The U.S. has pledged 100 million and sent supplies and personnel. The U.K. pledged $10 million and sent 64 firemen and 8 volunteers.China, a country with a population of 1,325,639,982 compared to Israel's 7.5 million sent 50 rescuers and seven journalists. The 25 Arab League nations sent nothing.

Israel's "disproportionate" response stems from Jewish memory and tradition. Mati Goldstein, head of the ZAKA International Rescue Unit delegation managed described the scene, "Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air. It's just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust - thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension." At the start of Sunday's regular Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israeli team had already treated hundreds of patients. "I think that this is in the best tradition of the Jewish People; this is the true covenant of the State of Israel and the Jewish People," he said. "This follows operations we have carried out in Kenya and Turkey; despite being a small country, we have responded with a big heart. The fact is, I know, tha t this was an expression of our Jewish heritage and the Jewish ethic of helping one's fellow. "

In the rubble and suffering of Haiti, Israelis are relentlessly searching for and saving lives. It is this "disproportionate response" that rankles their enemies the most, for it shines a light on their failings.

See below for videos

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSsCBuBVzQw

2.http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/18/dnt.cohen.haiti.patients.dying.cnn
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Haiti earthquake aid pledged by country

Haiti's quake has apparently galvanised the world. Find out how much different countries and organisations have pledged to the aid effort
• Get the data

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Haiti quake aid: boy receiving treatment at a UN clinic

Haiti earthquake aid: A young Haitian boy receiving treatment at an ad hoc medical clinic at the UN MINUSTAH logistics base in Port au Prince. Photograph: LOGAN ABASSI/AFP/Getty Images

Tracking the ever-increasing pledges of financial aid and other assistance for quake-stricken Haiti is a difficult business, but the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is attempting to do just that. The OCHA has the tricky task of trying to orchestrate the efforts of the dozens of aid agencies either in Haiti or on their way there.

Its list of donors tracks both monetary sums and donations in the form of assistance and equipment, both from governments and corporations. However, it does not cover the millions of pounds of private donations pouring into appeals such as that launched in the UK by the Disasters Emergency Committee - where you can also make a donation.

Relief Web is probably the best source - it publishes daily totals.

As some of you have pointed out - the top level figures don't take account of individual country contributions, ie ships or aid trucks. So, take a look at the Google spreadsheet - that will give you exactly what each organisation or country has donated - look at the 'details' worksheet.

Data summary
Haiti aid pledged by country


Country/organisation

Funding, committed and uncommitted, $

$ per person

% of total
Private (individuals & organisations) 212839080 25.53
Others 210064336 25.2
United States 114632301 0.364 13.75
World Bank (emergency grant) 100000000 12
United Kingdom 29371581 0.477 3.52
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) 25781609 3.09
Sweden 18657792 2.017 2.24
Brazil 15530000 0.080 1.86
France 14398778 0.231 1.73
Germany 10822512 0.132 1.3
China 10405286 0.008 1.25
UN & agencies 10000000 1.2
Australia 8992806 0.422 1.08
Denmark 7376543 1.349 0.88
Canada 5491330 0.164 0.66
Japan 5327154 0.042 0.64
Norway 4939341 1.026 0.59
Spain 4329004 0.096 0.52
European Commission 4329000 0.52
Netherlands 2886003 0.174 0.35
Italy 2675568 0.045 0.32
Donors not specified 2111391
Switzerland 1941748 0.257 0.23
Finland 1803752 0.339 0.22
Poland 1089466 0.029 0.13
New Zealand 1000000 0.234 0.12
Morocco 1000000 0.031 0.12
Indonesia 1000000 0.004 0.12
Guyana 1000000 1.312 0.12
Estonia 1000000 0.746 0.12
Luxembourg 722900 1.487 0.09
Russian Federation 700000 0.005 0.08
Belgium 651876 0.061 0.08
Greece 290000 0.026 0.03
Czech Republic 288600 0.028 0.03
Inter-American Development Bank 200000 0.02
South Africa 134904 0.003 0.02
WORLD TOTAL 833649757 0.122 100


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* http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Israel_Bringing_Hope_Amidst_Haitis_Rubble.asp