Ynet News: Israel to send aid to Haiti

After medication sent to combat cholera outbreak, Israel Aid Agency intends to set up permanent trauma unit, train local teams in island's second largest city

Ronen Medzini Published: 11.24.10, 20:07 / Israel News

The Foreign Ministry sent some 200,000 doses of medication against cholera to Haiti this week, where more than 1,000 have died already from the outbreak. Israel also intends to set up a permanent trauma and emergency unit on the crisis-ridden island to assist in treating the thousands of patients.

Trauma unit within four months (illustration) Photo: AFP

The international cooperation branch of Israel Aid Agency announced it intends to come to the aid of Haiti which less than six months ago was hit by a devastating earthquake which left the island in ruins. It intends to assist both by sending medicines and by long-term aid.

Haitian hospital (Photo: AFP)

"This is an aid project in a place where we see a need not being filled by others," said Dr. Yossi Peretz, a senior consultant for medical and humanitarian issues. "Many groups are operating there, but not all with good reputations and not all with appropriate coordination and to satisfactory levels from the point of view of the local authorities."

The unit will be located in the island's second largest city, Cap-Haïtien, which was chosen after authorities said there was a tangible need for a quality unit in the city, Peretz said. Cap-Haïtien has more than a million residents, and the unit's operations will also assist in developing the economy.

"We came to an agreement that we'd build a large unit meeting Israeli standards," Peretz said. "This is a pilot project. There is currently no infrastructure for trauma victims and the wounded, and there is a lack of experience and knowledge. We have taken it upon ourselves to build and train, and we are now preparing to take out the equipment. This will require many containers and Israeli construction and training teams, all 'blue and white' (from Israel). We intend to finish the project within four months and hand it over to them."
 
The UN has recently called on states around the world to contribute some $164 million to increase international efforts to combat the cholera outbreak, which has claimed the lives of 917 people so far and infected at least 14,600. According to Save the Children, 40% of those who died did not receive adequate medical attention. According to UN estimates, the number of those infected is liable to reach 200,000 – some 2% of the Haitian population.

Mending Hearts...Building Bridges

A few days ago I watched on the TV news a report about an Israeli (Zionist) association of cardiologist doctors and surgeons who are treating children worldwide - "Save a Child’s Heart (SACH)". They are treating kids with heart problems and illness from many countries and places like SE Asia, Africa, Europe, Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority. A great number of treated kids are from enmity countries to Israel and about 1000 children from the Palestinian Authority were treated successfully.

I'll not speak for those doctors and refer you to their website links so you can get the impression first hand.

http://www.saveachildsheart.org/14-en/Sach.aspx


"Betty's Story" (English) - The Story of Save a Child's Heart activities around the world with a focus on little Betty from Ethiopia 



http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/xinhua/2010-10-04/content_960812.html

Ynet News: IDF rescues Lebanese woman caught in border fence

Troops patrolling northern border detect elderly woman tangled in barbed wire fence on Lebanese side near mine field, safely return her to Lebanon in coordination with UNIFIL forces

Hagai Einav Published: 11.14.10, 23:49 / Israel News

Troops carrying woman Photo: The IDF Spokesperson's Unit

An IDF force patrolling along the northern border Saturday detected an 80-year-old woman whose clothes had tangled in the Lebanese side of the border fence. The troops informed United Nations personnel stationed at the area and rescued the woman together.

The elderly woman was caught in a part of the fence which was adjacent to a mine field and when it became clear the Lebanese Army could not assist her, the IDF stepped in.

A joint military force pulled the woman into Israeli territory while the Lebanese Army observed the rescue operation. After making sure the woman was not injured UNIFIL representatives contacted the Lebanese Army and coordinated her return to Lebanon via the Rosh Hanikra crossing.

 Rescue operation. 'Woman posed no security risk' (Photo: The IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

An IDF source told Ynet the woman posed no security risk and was in evident distress. "As a humanitarian measure it was decided to help her and return her safely to her village in Lebanon," he said.

 
"The woman's rescue was performed by a joint force of engineering, scouts and Golani troops who are intimately familiar with the area and who managed to release the woman from the fence and transfer her to the Israeli side safe and sound."

Ynet News: Restoring Poland's Jewish past

Special Israeli-Polish collaboration has Polish inmates renovating, restoring Jewish cemeteries ruined in WWII

Noah Klieger Published: 11.09.10, 12:07 / Israel Jewish Scene

POLAND – Sixty-five years after Jewish cemeteries were demolished by the Nazis, they are now being restored and renovated by the unlikeliest of volunteers - Polish inmates.

Jewish cemetery in Warsaw Photo: Visual/Photos

 

Hundreds of prisoners from some 50 Polish jails have been spending the last few months renovating and performing restoration work on Jewish cemeteries as part of a special and unprecedented collaboration between Israel's Prison Service and the Polish prison service. More prisons are scheduled to join the project in the future.


It should be noted that the prisoners participating in the project have volunteered to do so after learning of its significance from their wardens.

The project was first conceived in 2005 when Israeli and Polish prison service representatives met during an international conference and decided to cooperate in various fields.

The Polish representatives later told their Israeli counterparts that the warden of a prison in Lublin had initiated the renovation of a local Jewish cemetery and that dozens of prisoners volunteered to take part in the effort. The Israelis were also told that the plan had been coordinated with Poland's chief rabbi and the Director of Poland's Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, Monika Krawczyk.

The Israeli Prison Service officers immediately saw the project's huge potential and shortly thereafter offered their Polish counterparts to turn the initiative into a national project.

Haim Shmulevich, former Prison Service legal advisor and a Polish native speaker was appointed as the Israeli contact person. Last January, he and Prison Service discipline director Benny Poloczek held a tour of Poland to monitor the project's progression and finalize the necessary details of its expansion.

Jewish philanthropist

As the project's scope grew bigger it became apparent there was need for outside funding. This is where Brian Anderson, a British tycoon who moved to Israel six years ago, came into the picture. Anderson, 54, is the son of a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to England after WWII.

He made his fortune working as an importer of Far East products since his teen years. The son of ardent Zionists, Anderson visited Israel frequently as a young man. In one of his visits, he met his wife Irit, with whom he has three daughters. After retiring and making aliyah, Anderson created a donors club for the benefit of various causes in Israel which mainly consists of wealthy British Jews. The club's members provide funding for terror victims, lone soldiers and IDF wounded veterans.

Last year, one of Anderson's friends introduced him to the Prison Service. When he learned about the cemeteries campaign he decided to recruit his fellow philanthropists and raise the necessary funds to keep the project going.

Tombstone maker's secret

On Monday, several of a donors, together with a Prison Service delegation attended a special ceremony marking the completion of the first stage of the unique collaboration in the Polish city of Radom. A monument built by the Polish prisoners using old Jewish tombstones was unveiled.

An interesting story lies behind these tombstones. During the German occupation, a Polish tombstone maker decided to move 70 gravestones from the local Jewish cemetery to a warehouse near his house. Choosing the most extravagant headstones, he planned on selling them when the time came. In doing so, he in fact saved them.

The Germans used the thousands of tombstones that remained in the cemetery to build a runway for their fighter jets and to pave a road from the city to the airport. After the war, the Communist regime prohibited citizens from holding on to items of historical value, thus preventing the Polish tombstone maker from selling his treasure.

The tombstones were discovered only decades later when Haim Kintzler, chairman of the Radom Jews association visited his hometown and learned of the cemetery's sad fate. When he discovered the hidden tombstones, he recruited the help of the mayor of Radom and together they convinced the tombstone maker's sons to return them to the municipality, which promised to feature them in a special new museum.

It took Kintzler 13 years to realize his plan and showcase the tombstones. While the municipality could not afford to keep its promise, a solution was found with the help of the organizers of the Polish cemeteries renovation project. It was decided that a monument featuring the tombstones would be set up to mark the special project.
 
Monday's ceremony in Radom was attended by the Polish justice minister, municipal officials, Israeli Prison Service representatives, Brian Anderson and 20 members of his donors club, as well as Israeli Ambassador to Poland Zvi Rav Ner.

Ynet News: Muslim president inaugurates Jewish school

Azerbaijan leader applauded at Jewish education center in Baku, says hopes 'school's graduates will be proud Jews and proud Azeri citizens'

Dmitriy Prokofyev Published: 11.07.10, 08:23 / Israel Jewish Scene

A Muslim president of a Muslim country inaugurating a Jewish school is not exactly a common event. And yet, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev recently visited a Jewish education center in the capital city of Baku, accompanied by his education minister, minister for religious affairs, mayor and other senior officials.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. 'Courage and wisdom' Photo: Reuters

Upon his arrival, the president was applauded and cheered by the ceremony's attendees. "I hope the graduates of this school will be proud Jews as well as proud Azerbaijani citizens," he said.

President Shimon Peres sent a televised greeting to his Azeri counterpart in honor of the occasion, expressing his deep appreciation of the unusual gesture in building the large Jewish center in Baku.

"I would like to salute you for your courage and wisdom, in this pragmatic world we live in, to maintain values of building schools and centers for all religions so that not a single book is buried and not a single prayer is lost. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the traditional way you treat the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Your father and you will always be remembered as great personalities, who have a vision and act courageously and humanely."

Israel was represented by Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who was impressed by the national and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, blessed President Aliyev and the citizens of his country, and installed a mezuzah on the entrance gate.

Another important guest was Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, who donated funds to the center.

Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan, a Shiite country and neighbor to Iran. It is a very rich city, as Azerbaijan is a major exporter of oil to Western Europe, and has about two million residents. Its Jewish community has some 30,000 members.

The school, intended for 450 students, was built in a luxurious neighborhood on a hill facing the sea. The compound, which stretches over 3.5 acres, has three modern buildings housing a school, a kindergarten, a daycare center, sports facilities, a concert hall and a synagogue. The money was invested by Leviev's Or Avner fund.

The education center's inauguration was preceded by a meeting between Aliyev, Rabbi Amar, Leviev, and Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities Berel Lazar.

The route leading to the president's residence was blocked to traffic, and police officers standing in every corner saluted the convoy. Rabbi Amar was shocked, noting that "this is the first time traffic in a city is blocked to allow Israel's chief rabbi to get through."

Against anti-Semitism

During the meeting, President Aliyev turned to Leviev as an old friend. The two have known each other for many years thanks to the Jewish businessman's humanitarian gestures.

Aliyev told the rabbis, proudly, that his country's Jews never experienced anti-Semitism and that he himself was unfamiliar with the word "anti-Semite" until he traveled abroad for academic studies.

He showed proficiency in the affairs of his country's Jewish community and invited the chief rabbi to inaugurate a government-funded synagogue slated to be built in Baku in the next two years.

During the meeting, I asked Lev Leviev about the luxurious project and the activity of the Or Avner fund during the financial crisis.

"Crisis or no crisis, the fund continues to operate and donate," he replied, "because this is a real investment in our future as a people. We are gaining more and more Jews. This way we'll be stronger, and I have no doubt you will be blessed by God. We now have more than 500 active communities in the Commonwealth of Independent States alone, and they are developing dynamically."

Why did you choose to build the biggest and most luxurious education center you've ever established in Baku of all places?

"Because of real needs and a coincidence. We have a very intelligent community here, but it's very assimilated, with many mixed families. When the child goes with his father to the mosque on Friday and with his mother to synagogue on Saturday, it turns on a red light. We simply have to give that child the option to receive Jewish education, and for both parents to agree to send him to a Jewish school it has to be a school of the highest quality. At the same time, we received a great response from the political echelon, which even provided the land for free."

What next?
 
"The education center in Baku is only one chapter. Several weeks ago we opened a school called Or Avner in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, now we are opening one in Azerbaijan, and in Hanukkah we will open a similar center in Minsk."

Ynet News: Jaffa square named after Muslim leader

Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality decides to commemorate Islamic Movement's Sheikh Bassam Abu Zayid. 'He was very likeable to Jews because he made sure to maintain moderation, coexistence,' says Meretz councilman

Yoav Zitun Published: 11.07.10, 22:48 / Israel News

Sheikh Bassam Abu Zayid

Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality has decided to name a Jaffa square after Bassam Abu Zayid, who was a senior figure in the Islamic Movement in Israel and founded the movement's Jaffa branch.

Abu Zayid, who passed away in July of 2008, was considered by Jaffa's residents to be one of the foremost religious authorities.

A square located on the corner of Dolphin and Yehuda Hayamit Streets is to be named after the sheikh, who remained neutral during the internal split of the movement into northern and southern branches.

Since his death a public battle has taken place regarding his commemoration, led by Jaffa council member Ahmad Mashrawi (Meretz), who resigned from his post at the municipality over the issue.

Mashrawi. Resigned over battle Photo: Afaf Mashrawi

"The fact that Sheikh Bassam was not a member of any branch, northern or southern, makes him very likeable to Jews because he made sure to maintain moderation and coexistence," Mashrawi told Ynet. "There are hundreds of streets named after Jews in Jaffa, some of them biblical characters, even in Ajami neighborhood, which is absurd."

Likud councilman Arnon Giladi expressed surprising support for the move. "The Likud supports the commemoration of people who contributed to coexistence and moderation for the benefit of Israel's prosperity, whether they were Arabs or Jews," he said.

Another street will also be named after an Arab, the seventh so far. It will carry the name of George Hananiya, who chaired Jaffa's Orthodox Union and was one of the city's most beloved leaders.
 
 

Giladi. Supports move Photo: Ofer Amram

The city council is also embarking on a neighborhood-naming spree, as part of which Giladi has suggested calling his neighborhood after former Prime Minister Menachem Begin. However he encountered opposition on the part of Councilwoman Haviva Avi-Guy, of the Pensioners' Party.

 

"Begin was the first prime minister to bring peace. If we commemorate prime ministers, as we have the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, it would be proper to honor him with a neighborhood as his namesake as well," Giladi responded.

Ynet News: Israelis attacked on way to Jerusalem pub

Three students and Australian tourist take wrong turn on way to Jerusalem's city center, find themselves in heart of Arab neighborhood of Issawiya. 'Dozens of young men began throwing stones and sticks at us. It was a well-planned ambush,' driver recounts

Yair Altman Published: 11.05.10, 13:04 / Israel News

Three students from the central city of Givatayim and their Australian friend will never forget their nightly drive to Jerusalem's city center. The three, who picked up the young woman from the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus, almost paid with their lives after taking a wrong turn.

"There were four of us in the car, and we planned to sit in a quiet pub on Ben-Yehuda Street and talk," the driver, Assaf Ben-Ari, told Ynet on Friday morning. "There were no signs, and since we don't live in the area we didn't know how to turn back. We took a right turn on one of the curves and found ourselves on a one-way road in an unfamiliar area."

Shortly afterwards the four began feeling discomfort, which was soon replaced with real fear.

"After driving for a minute, we saw a 12-year-old boy walking on the side of the road. We explained to him that we lose our way and asked how to get to Ben-Yehuda Street. He said in an Arabic accent that he didn't speak Hebrew and called someone. That's when I began realizing that something was wrong," Assaf recounted.

As he and his friends were waiting, Assaf noticed that all the store signs in the area were in Arabic. "An older person arrived and he and the kid began laughing at us. They told us to continue driving on the same road, while the older one was on the phone and simply sent us into a well-planned ambush."

'Look of murder in their eyes'

The group had no choice and continued driving according to the instructions, and found themselves in the heart of the neighborhood of Issawiya. They decided to turn back, but were shocked to discover that the road had been blocked.

"I don't know how they managed, but only two minutes later they set up a barrier which included a barbed-wire fence, chairs, and iron pipes. We were in shock. We suddenly heard an explosion sound in the back, and saw the boy and the adult who we spoke to throwing bricks at us."

'It was like a nightmare' (Photo: Assaf Ben-Ari)

The car's rear windowpane was smashed, and young men began coming out of the neighborhood houses and throwing stones at the vehicle. The driver began speeding into the center of Issawiya.

"My friend contacted the police, and after we managed to get away I stopped and contemplated what to do. I had never encountered such a situation of helplessness without any preparation, and with friends and a terrified tourist," Assaf said.

Meanwhile, "the entire neighborhood woke up and dozens of young men gathered next to us and waited for us with sticks and stones. I considered escaping from the vehicle or even hiding until the police arrived, but I knew we wouldn't stand a chance if they found us outside the car. Several minutes later we were surrounded, and I realized that I must drive my car into the barrier if I want to get out of here alive."

At that moment, he began driving fast while being hit with stones and iron pipes from all directions. "I pressed the gas pedal with all my might, and simply drove into the barrier at 110 kilometers an hour. The barbed-wire fence was caught under the wheels and dragged along. There were sparks in the air."

Part of barbed-wire fence in improvised barrier (Photo: Assaf Ben-Ari)

After crossing the first barrier, the group was shocked to discover a second trap. "Several meters ahead they placed a row of taxis attached to each other in order to prevent us from passing. Luckily, we managed to get through a small gap between the pavement and the wall, a moment before another taxi arrived to close us in."

At the same time, three Border Guard jeeps arrived in the area and ensured that there were no injuries. According to the police, "The fighters dispersed the rioters and the matter has been handed over to the minority department."

"It was like entering a nightmare. They had a look of murder in their eyes," the driver said after the incident. "Had we stayed there one more minute we wouldn't be alive anymore. It wasn't just an attempt to stone us, but an intentional desire to lynch us only several meters way from the university."

Gil Naveh contributed to this report

__________________________________________________________________

Stones thrown at ambulance treating Palestinian

Paramedics treating injured Palestinian flee Issawiya after stones damage their vehicle

Yair Altman Published: 11.06.10, 20:46 / Israel News

Stones were thrown Saturday at an ambulance and an MDA mobile intensive care unit near the village of Al-Azariya just a day after some young Israelis were attacked as they drove through nearby Issawiya, in east Jerusalem. The ambulance teams had been called to village to treat a young man who had fallen from the fifth floor of a building.

At about 6 pm, an ambulance was called to Al-Azariya, in the vicinity of east Jerusalem. Due to the critical condition of the patient, the intensive care unit was called. As paramedics treated the patient, a number of teens from Issawiya began throwing stones at the vehicle, making the paramedics' task difficult. The windscreen of the vehicles was damaged, as was another Israeli vehicle that was driving behind them.

 
Hagai Bar-Tov, an MDA paramedic, spoke of those minutes of fear. "On the way to the hospital, as the paramedics treated the patient… we had to take care of our own lives at the same time," he said. "A shower of stones fell on us… Luckily the vehicle was armored, so the windscreen was damaged but not completely broken in."
 
"Unfortunately, we see once again how terror groups operate without limits, even when it's clear to all that ambulances don't do any damage anywhere in the world" said Danny Rotenberg, MDA spokesman in the Jerusalem region. "The team, which was in the middle of intensive treatment saving the life of a seriously wounded Palestinian patient, feared for its life, making the situation even worse."

Police said they had begun searches in the area to find those responsible for throwing the stones. The police view the incident gravely, as they do the attempted lynch of three students from Givatayim and an Australian tourist. Police sources said they intend to increase operations against stone throwing in Issawiya, to pressure the local population to keep public order.
 
The students and tourist, who only wanted to go to a pub in the city, almost paid with their lives after making a wrong turn. They said they followed the directions of children in the neighborhood and almost reached the center of Issawiya. When they tried to go back they saw the street was blocked, and saw the eldest child who had given directions throw stones at them. None of the group was injured, despite the shower of stones.