Israeli eye doctors start work in Maldives amid protests

From Minivan News:

Visiting Israeli doctors from the ‘Eye from Zion’ NGO have begun treating patients at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after producing attested documentation, Haveeru has reported.

State Housing Minister Abdulla Shahid, in charge of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), said there was “high demand” for the team’s services, despite protests in Male’ on Thursday.

Earlier, over the weekend:

Protests erupted across Male’ over the weekend that saw the burning of Israeli flags and calls to “ban all Israeli medical teams” from practicing in the Maldives...

Protesters burned several Israeli flags in Republican Square and demanded the deportation of seven visiting Israeli eye surgeons, who are holding free eye camps in Male’ and the island hospitals.

Protesters gathered near the tsunami monument on International Human Rights Day, claiming that “Jews would not provide any form of assistance, unless there is a hidden agenda”, according to the website of the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives.

The religious NGO has previously called on the government to “shun all medical aid from the Zionist regime”, alleging the Israeli surgeons “have become notorious for illegally harvesting organs from non-Jews around the world.”

Religious NGO Jamiyyathusalaf has also called on the government to provide citizens with military training “before Jews take over the country”.

President Mohamed Nasheed today met with the doctors the Israeli ‘Eye from Zion’ NGO and said “a vast majority of Maldivians” appreciated the humanitarian work of the doctors.

As when I first mentioned this in late November before, the comments section of this newspaper is overwhelmingly supportive of the Israeli effort.