Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘magen david adom’

“Moving our children to safety” is a campaign launched by the Jewish Agency for Israel to send Israeli kids living in Northern Israel to summer camps in central and southern Israel. Not only will this help bring them to safety, but it will also provide some much-needed relief for these kids, supposedly on summer vacation, from being cooped up indoors and in bomb shelters amidst the daily tensions of war.

Harry has more about this program:

While giving pizza to soldiers is a noble cause, this is a chance to make a difference in a child’s life. Many of these immigrants just made aliyah from Ethiopa a few months ago and have spent the last few nights and days crammed into the bomb shelters of the absorption centers where they live.

For Montrealers who wish to contribute, Federation CJA has set up an Israel Crisis Relief Fund, which will be supporting this program, among others. They have a handy online donation form, so please give generously.

By the way, Canadian Magen David Adom can also use everyone’s support – in general, but especially right now.

I will not shed any tears for Arafat. He was a murderer, an innovator of nothing but terrorism, and a failure in his supposed “causes”. I’m sickened by how the world has accorded him status of a “national leader” when he’s really nothing more than a thug.

But I refuse to rejoice at the news of his death. I won’t cry but I won’t dance for joy either.

Of course, there’s a practical reason. Arafat’s death likely means civil war for the Palestinians. As the various factions fracture and try to outdo each other, I fear more Israeli deaths amidst the chaos – both of Zahal soldiers and of civilians. There is no reason to rejoice even the prospect of this.

But beyond that, I find it gruesome and morally reprehensible to rejoice at the death of anyone, even an enemy. Maybe even especially an enemy. That’s what gives us our humanity. That’s what gives us our respect for life and our love of life and our unwavering commitment to celebrating life, not death.

Arafat embraced death. He wanted to die a “martyr”. He sent scores of Palestinians out to murder Israelis with bombs strapped to their chests. In his arithmetic, every Israeli death was a Palestinian victory and every Palestinian death was a Palestinian victory.

When I see footage of Palestinians dancing in the streets after 9/11 or after a suicide bombing against Israelis, it makes my stomach turn. When I hear firing of guns in the air and cries of revenge at every funeral for a “martyr”, it makes me realize that there are those who view loving life as Israel’s weakness.

It’s not a weakness. It’s a strength. And that is why I will not share in the sentiment that is being expressed in some circles of happiness at the news of Arafat’s death.

But Israelis do not dance and rejoice at death. They dance and rejoice at life. They love life. They embrace life, living it to its fullest and then some. It’s a marked difference that’s obvious to even the casual observer.

I’m not sorry Arafat’s dead. But I refuse to celebrate death in even the smallest way. I prefer to celebrate life.

Update: In case you’re wondering, I don’t view participation in Meryl’s call to donate $25 to Magen David Adom as a celebration of death. To me, that’s the ultimate way to affirm the protection of life in the face of news of the death of a terrorist. If Arafat caused so many thousands of people to need ambulances, it is the support of people who care that will provide the ambulances to help them. Personally, I can’t think of anything more fitting.

If and when the reports of Arafat’s death are confirmed, Meryl’s making a $25 donation to Magen David Adom as part of her Dead Dictators Pool Matching Fund initiative. I happen to think that it’s an ironically appropriate way to mark the passing of a dictator who caused so many innocent people to need MDA’s services, and I plan on joining her in matching it. If you’d like to do the same, visit her site for details.

For Canadian readers, you can send your donations to CMDA. (And yes, contrary to the issues of a couple of years ago, it’s tax-deductible.)

Reuters, by the way, is calling this the “possible Arafat death”. It’s almost funny watching the reporters falling all over each other to get the contradictory news straight.

The news keeps happening much faster than I can keep up on it. Funny how that happens, ain’t it? At any rate, until I can successfully build my time machine that will allow me to “pause live reality” and catch up while everyone else is in freeze-frame, here’s an in-brief recap:

• Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan was approved by the Knesset after some typically-Israeli political jockeying that’s still ongoing. Netanyahu’s threatening mutiny unless Sharon agrees to hold a referendum, but so far, Sharon’s not budging. The settler fringe is of course up in arms – somewhat literally – and on the anniversary of the Rabin assassination, some can’t help but wonder if Sharon is looking over his shoulder these days. Despite being uncomfortable with the idea of the plan being perceived by the Palestinians as a reward for terrorism, and my general overall pessimism about the whole conflict, I can’t help but think that despite the mess, Sharon will land on his feet. He always does. For more, see Allison and Jonathan.

• The CJC has Issued another statement responding to the remarks by Canadian Islamic Congress leader Mohamed Elmasry that said that all adult Israelis are ‘legitimate targets’ for terrorism. The CJC statement called the CIC marginal and irrelevant, no matter whether Elmasry resigns or not. The CIC, you will recall, likes to believe it speaks for all Canadian Muslims. I personally am waiting to hear a huge outcry from Canadian Muslims who believe that this organization does not represent them. I’m still waiting. I think I’ll be waiting a while. The police, by the way, are investigating Elmasry’s remarks as a hate crime.

• Speaking of the CIC, they’re the same group that issued an election report card urging Canadian Muslims to vote for or against specific candidates (seemingly based on how pro- or anti-Israel they are). Damian points to anti-American remarks by Liberal MP Yasmin Rantisi, the first Muslim woman elected to Parliament. Something tells me the CIC would give her an “A”.

• Arafat’s ill health continues to dominate the news. My feeling is that this is an overexaggeration designed to cause panic and an outpouring of sympathy for Arafat. Meryl’s not betting on anything but she does have an interesting idea for a Magen David Adom matching fund if any Arab dictators croak. Arafat would be included in this, it seems. MDA is one of my favourite charities and the irony just seems deliciously appropriate.

• Less than a week before the US election and it’s still too close to call. I’m thinking Tuesday might be a good time to actually get some work done, since everyone will be preoccupied with voting and watching the results. Hmmmm.

• There was a lunar eclipse tonight. I didn’t get much of a view of it but I hear that people who had clear skies and lines of sight were wowed.

• Oh yeah, and the Red Sox won the World Series, breaking an 86-year “curse”.

In a deceptive period of quiet in Israel, it was easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. Simple to believe that no attacks meant that the attackers weren’t trying. Which, of course, is nonsense: the security fence and the IDF raids was merely doing their jobs at prevention.

Today, there was a breach. And a double bus bombing in Be’ersheva that has left 12 innocent people dead and at least 100 more wounded:

Two suicide bombers exploded almost simultaneously on two buses in central Be’er Sheva on Tuesday, Southern Command Police commander Dudi Cohen said.

The explosions took place on buses numbers 12 and 63, traveling opposite the municipality building on Yitzhak Riger Street at 2:55 p.m.

Magen David Adom said 12 people were killed in the attacks, all of whom died at the scene. 100 people were wounded and taken to Soroka Hospital not far from the site of the attack. Seven are listed as critical; 12 are listed as serious, and the rest of the wounded are listed in light-to moderate condition. One of those fighting for his life in Soroka’s operating theatre is a three-year-old child, Channel 1 TV reported.

Be’er Sheva is a sleepy town in the Negev, known for its college campus life, and growing due to cheaper housing than can be found in Tel Aviv. When I drove past in July, I looked out the window and saw a few soldiers sitting at a bus stop, melting in their uniforms under the hot sun. I wonder now if any of them were on bus 12 or bus 63.

Life goes on in Israel. The Israelis will mourn and move on. The Palestinians will cheer and use the “success” to recruit dozens of new terrorists willing to strap on explosives and kill more Jews. The American candidates for election will try to spin this as a political issue. The U.N., the E.U., and most of the world will stay silent.

It makes me sick. All of it. When will it end?

Update: They’re now reporting at least 15 people dead in the attacks. Israel has acted decisively, raiding the home of the Hamas terrorist who was responsible for this cowardly act of murder.

Also, I had completely forgot that Be’ersheva is Montreal’s twin city in Israel.

More reflections on why I think it’s so important to support Magen David Adom:

Magen David Adom has been a cause rather close to my heart, ever since my dad got food poisoning on a flight to Israel about 6 years ago and was rushed to a Jerusalem hospital . . . in an ambulance donated by the Canadian MDA.

That day in 1997, while we were in the air, a terrorist bomb exploded in Mahaneh Yehuda in Jerusalem. And when we arrived in the hospital, the injured victims of this bombing were being brought in.

In between ducking the news cameras so as not to scare our friends and relatives back home by showing up on the 6 o’ clock news, my mom and I had time to reflect on this crazy, wonderful country we were in. My dad was, thankfully, not seriously ill, but the doctors and nurses took excellent care of him. At the same time, they were treating the victims of senseless terrorism with expert skill and compassion.

The ambulances that are first on the scene when disaster strikes are not political. MDA ambulances are staffed almost entirely by trained volunteers. They treat all victims, be they Jewish or Arab, living on either side of the so-called “green line”, and no matter their background or political affiliation. Ambulance drivers have to brave enormous difficulties to make their way to these horrific scenes, often putting themselves at risk of delayed second attacks designed to target rescue efforts. They also fulfil the role of any other ambulance service, rushing to the scenes of car accidents, to the aid of heart attack patients, and the like.

Magen David Adom is the victim of a senseless campaign itself, to keep it out of International Red Cross/Red Crescent for purely arbitrary reasons – namely that the Jewish magen david is not an “acceptable” symbol, unlike the Christian cross or the Muslim crescent. Recently, the American Red Cross has come out in support of MDA and hopefully this isolation will end soon. On the Canadian side, a spat between CMDA and the CCRA has been resolved, allowing the organisation to keep its much-deserved charitable status in Canda.

So please mosey on over to Meryl Yourish and donate to Blogathon 2003. Israel desperately needs ambulances. Let’s help get them one.

The incomparable Meryl Yourish is raising money for Magen David Adom. Her goal – along with bloggers Lair and Michele – is to raise $60,000 to donate a brand-new ambulance to Israel. Check it out and give generously!

I received an e-mail from Arieh Lebowitz regarding an online petition about CDMA that is outdated and is going so far as to be causing problems for the organization.

The petition, started by Concordia Hillel’s own Steven Rosenshein, has garnered over 150,000 signatures so far and spotlighted international attention on a conflict that CDMA was having last year with the Canadian Customs and Revenue agency. But since then, the organization resolved the problem by cutting a deal with CCRA. Except, thanks to the nature of the Internet and mass e-mails, people are still protesting and voicing complaints:

There is no truth to an Internet petition that claims the Canadian government is planning to shut down the offices of Canadian Magen David Adom (CMDA), the organization’s national president said last week.

A petition hosted at www.PetitionOnline.com is badly out of date and misleading, said Joseph Bitton, the CMDA’s Montreal-based leader.

Nevertheless, CMDA is “getting a lot of problems” because of the petition, Bitton said, and even the U.S. branch of Magen David Adom is seeing its supporters question whether they should be giving money to an organization they fear may be violating the law.

“It’s created some confusion and people wonder if something is wrong,” Bitton said. “It’s not good for our organization or Israel.”

[ . . . ]

CMDA has contacted the petition’s sponsor, but was told he could not get the petition removed. Bitton said CMDA is trying to contact PetitionOnline.com, but so far has had no luck.

In other words, if you receive a mass e-mail urging you to sign this petition, send back a reply with this update. There are enough real problems that our community needs to mobilize to address, without wasting energy on one that no longer exists.

It really pisses me off to hear allegations that Israel doesn’t do enough to provide emergency rescue services, especially considering the Canadian and worldwide campaigns against Magen David Adom. And especially when I read things like this:

The event featured guest speaker Sarah Kronis, who has worked as a volunteer with Magen David Adom for the past five years. Kronis, 24, described her experiences helping patients, and assisting medical staff aboard the ambulances. She also noted the changes that have taken place since the latest intifidah began in September 2000.

For example, ambulance staff are now clad in bullet-proof vests and a staff member always stays behind to guard the ambulance at the scene of an incident. Over the past two years, almost 100 of the 550 Magen David Adom ambulances have been destroyed, stolen or repainted as Red Crescent ambulances (which may be used to carry terrorists and explosives).

“They’re at a point where they really need ambulances,” said Kronis. During her discussion, she noted that her friend’s ambulance had been set on fire.

The next time I hear that it was the Israelis who were preventing ambulances from reaching injured people, I’m going to ask those making the allegations exactly how many Red Crescent ambulances were stolen, repainted, and used to transport explosives by the IDF.

Ha’aretz Reports that Ottawa is training Palestinian security forces in “peacekeeping” in anticipation of an eventual Israeli pullout of the Disputed Territories:

Thus, the Palestinians responded positively to an invitation by the Canadian government and sent a group of senior Palestinian security officers to Bosnia and Macedonia to learn first-hand about the international forces operating there. The study trip was but one chapter in a comprehensive curriculum the Canadians have established for preparing the groundwork for international involvement in the territories.

Good ol’ Canada, always ready to lift a finger . . . except to help Israel. Troops to fight terrorism or oust Saddam Hussein? No can do, we’re Canadians, eh? We just send in peacekeeping forces and make sure to stay as politically-correct as possible, cause we sure as hell wouldn’t want to piss anyone off by actually doing the right thing, now would we?

I wonder if it’s ever occurred to our good-hearted peacenicks in government that security training can also be used as military training? The lessons in discipline, organization, and command can come in mighty handy if and when Israel is pressured to pull out of the territories and the Palestinians suddenly find themselves in possession of a state and an army. The British trained the Jordanian army, which then used that training to attack Israel in 1948. I wonder where our good-natured Canadian peacekeeping forces will be when Israel comes under attack by the to-be-Canadian-trained Palestinian army?

Instead of preparing international peacekeeping forces to enter the territories, the pions in charge of foreign policy might want to take a closer look at Israel’s situation – and maybe lend it a little support in the international community while they’re at it. But no, that would be too much to ask from the government who gives more support to Hezbollah than to the Magen David Adom.