Sunday, May 10, 2015
NGO Monitor: NGOs, Antisemitism, and Government Funding: NGO Monitor’s Report to the 2015 Global Forum on Antisemitism
Antisemitism is a very virulent and enduring form of racism that has unfortunately been reemerging to levels not seen since the 1930s, in the period leading up to the Holocaust. Throughout Europe, Jews have been deliberately targeted, violently attacked and murdered at synagogues, schools, kosher markets, and museums. Jews wearing yarmulkes (skull caps) or other religious markings are subject to harassment and violence. Crowds at soccer matches chant “Jews to the gas” and other genocidal taunts. Mass demonstrations in European capitals, ostensibly to protest Israeli actions towards the Palestinians, are rife with antisemitic and Nazi sloganeering and imagery. University campuses have seen extreme targeting and singling out of Jews. In Iran, state-sponsored Holocaust denial and calls to “wipe Israel off the map” are entrenched. Arab media is filled with vitriolic antisemitism and blood libels.Richard Millett: Galloway gone! Ward ousted! Liberal Democrats demolished! Labour decimated! SNP in.
As antisemitism rises and reaches crisis levels in Europe, NGOs that claim to promote human rights and humanitarian agendas in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict and executing the Durban Strategy have fueled and exacerbated hatred of and discrimination against Jews, promoting antisemitic themes and imagery, as at the Durban Conference. These groups, which include international, Palestinian, and Israeli NGOs, also fail to report on or condemn antisemitism and incitement against Jews.
Despite the extensive evidence of NGO antisemitism – egregious examples are provided below – governments, in particular in Europe, continue to fund these groups with hundreds of millions of dollars, pounds, euros, and kroner, and enable the problematic activities and rhetoric.
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For five years Labour has been isolationist on the foreign policy front. It voted not to assist the Syrian people being slaughtered by Assad.UN Watch: Fighting Dictatorships, Defending Human Rights
There was, however, one country on which Labour was not isolationist: Israel. Precious parliamentary time was wasted by Labour MPs these last five years smearing Israel as evil and debating, and voting for, a future Palestinian state.
But despite the election results there is no room for complacency for British Jews. The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) have virtually swept away Labour in Scotland. They grew from six to an astonishing 56 MPs!
The SNP like to paint themselves as supportive of multiculturalism but there is, again, one country they are not too accepting of: Israel.
These are SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s words to the ‘Ending Scottish Arms Trade with Israel’ conference only yesterday:
“As you may be aware, during the recent conflict in Gaza the Scottish Government wrote to the UK Government urging an embargo on arms sales to Israel. The Scottish Government is a firm friend of Palestine and we will continue to press this issue after the election.”
An SNP council also once voted to ban Israeli books in its libraries.
No doubt the SNP will soon be joining forces with Labour, what’s left of the Liberal Democrats and Caroline Lucas of the Green Party to attack Israel.
In the meantime the average hard-working grassroots pro-Israel activist can enjoy some well-earned schadenfreude at the demise of Galloway and Ward.
May 2015 update on UN Watch's latest battles to confront dictatorships at the UN with the truth of their human rights abuses.
Fighting Anti-Israel Bigotry - UN Watch in 2014-2015
Screened at UN Watch Gala in Geneva on May 7, 2015. How Schabas was fired -- and more on incredible work of UN Watch to expose and combat the anti-Israel selectivity of the U.N. and its grossly biased Human Rights Council.
Netanyahu: Israel foiled Iran's efforts to open new front on Golan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of a cabinet meeting Sunday morning, mentioned that since the outgoing government's first cabinet meeting two years ago, the region has been in constant tumult.PreOccupied Territory: We Must Disregard Elections In Favor Of Opinion Poll Results by Ed Miliband and Isaac Herzog (satire)
“Despite the many attempts to challenge us from our borders, we fended off all these efforts without exception,” he said.
Netanyahu mentioned Hezbollah in south Lebanon, the efforts by Iran to open up a new front against Israel on the Golan Heights, attempts to transfer advanced weaponry from Syria to Lebanon, and efforts by Hamas to carry out a “strategic attack” against Israel in the south.
“During Operation Protective Edge, we delivered Hamas the most powerful blow it has received since its creation,” he said. “We are prepared for all developments from that front.”
More than anything, he said, the previous government acted to prevent Iran from getting nuclear arms. “These efforts are continuing, and we will not stop,” he said. “We will preserve Israel's right to defend itself by itself under any conditions and in any situation.”
Both of our countries witnessed hard-fought national elections this year, elections that featured a striking similarity: in both cases, opinion polls leading up to the voting indicated the results were too close to call, with Labour holding perhaps a slight edge – only to discover on Election Day that the electorate had chosen decisively to elect our chief rivals. The discrepancy between the two sets of figures can mean only one thing: we must do away with voting and use only opinion poll results as our guide.Suspects linked to hit-and-run incident against officer arrested
Our respective parties have already engaged in much of the post-mortem analysis, examining where our campaigns may have gone wrong, and why exactly the people voted against us. Such analysis has its place, but what we and our fellow left-wing politicians must focus on is working to reform the system to reflect what the polls so clearly demonstrated. Aside from some acquaintances across the parliamentary aisle, neither of us personally knows anyone who would not vote Labour. Small wonder, then, that the election outcomes came as a shock – and a suspicious one, at that. What thinking person could not see the manifest righteousness of our platform and policies when contrasted with the fear-mongering of our opponents? What rational citizen would knowingly choose a party with policies so flagrantly at odds with all that is good and right?
We unfortunately have been given our answer: too many such people exist, and can vote. The only proper response, then, is to reform the system so such travesties of democracy are no longer possible.
Two men, suspects in Saturday's hit and run attack against a police officer near Hebron, were arrested on Sunday during a raid by security forces, according to an official police statement.Melbourne, Australia: Bright, ambitious, kind, gentle teen and a Mother's Day terror plot
Saturday's incident occurred during a police inspection of vehicles near Hebron during which a Palestinian vehicle was signaled to pull over. The driver accelerated, hit an officer, and then sped in the direction of a nearby village.
The Hebron residents, aged 23 and 26, who were arrested in their home and taken for further interrogation, were found in possession of the keys to the vehicle used in the attack. The vehicle itself, bearing marks from the incident, was found nearby.
The officer who was struck in the attack suffered light injuries and was released from Beersheva's Soroka hospital.
In Melbourne, Australia, a fresh round of police raids on Friday and a 17 year old is at the heart of the action.State-Funded University Promoting Alliances with Hamas-dominated Palestinian Universities?
People are asking themselves - yet again - how the suspicion of the security authorities could possibly have fallen on a teenage boy "from a successful migrant family", a "bright teen" with "ambitions to follow his father into medicine and one day work together".
As the news channels are reporting now, it's another instance of a terrorist bombing attack foiled before anyone was hurt. And with live explosives being detonated (by police) in the streets of a leafy Melbourne suburb.
The outline below, and the collection of quoted passages in the opening para, comes from "Mother’s Day bomb plot: Teen allegedly blocked family and friends from Facebook posts",
Rabab Abdulhadi, director of San Francisco State University (SFSU)’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED) and a committed anti-Israel activist, has long sought an alliance between SFSU and two Palestinian universities, An-Najah and Bir Zeit. The April 22 victory of Hamas, or the Islamic Bloc, in Bir Zeit’s student council elections demonstrates the perversity of this endeavor.Suede to do encore show in Israel, Primus cancels due to 'logistical constraints'
Bir Zeit University, located in the West Bank about a dozen miles north of Jerusalem, was already a seat of Islamist activity. The Hamas-supporters’ win assures that an imprisoned terrorist will hold the title of “honorary chairman” of the student council.
According to Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh:
Hamas supporters on campus won 26 seats, compared to 16 for their rivals in the Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.
The results of the election mean that Bilal Barghouti, who is serving 16 life terms in prison for his role in a series of suicide attacks against Israel, has become the “Honorary Chairman of the Bir Zeit University Student Council.”
Britpop veterans Suede will be making their second appearance in Israel, following a successful show four years ago at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds. This time, they'll be performing at the Mivtachim Menorah Arena in Tel Aviv on July 30.The Belgians aren’t coming
Labeled the 'best new band in Britain' by Melody Maker when they broke out in the early 1990s, the group made good on the hype with albums highlighting the shimmering guitar work of Bernard Butler and the striking lead vocals of Brett Anderson. Their 1994 album Dog
Man Star is considered a classic, but marked the end of the Anderson-Butler partnership with the guitarist being replaced by Richard Oakes. The band called it quits in 2003 but regrouped in 2010 and have been active since, releasing a 2013 album Bloodsports and another album expected this summer. Two days before the announcement of the Suede show, the producers of Rock in the Park taking place on June 9-11 at the Ra'anana Amphitheater announced that one of the featured acts – Primus – was cancelling their show due to "logistical constraints."
Buckling under a relentless onslaught of cultural and academic pressure, Belgian artist Miet Warlop and her Campo Arts Center have canceled their presentation of Mystery Magnet at the Israel Festival.Tonge In Place & "Nasty" Nick Cotton's Noxious Noise
“We tried to explain our position,” Ms. Warlop wrote, “but it seems there’s no longer any place for decisions based on art…and the pressure to conform with [society’s] demands was simply too great.”
Israel Festival general director Eyal Sher, deploring what he termed the company’s surrender to cultural terror, invited Ms. Warlop to reconsider “and above all to stand firm against the forces of intolerance and extremism.”
One cannot help wondering whether some of the pressure was fiscal, as in “go, and you’ll lose your funding.”
The inevitable set of Mendacious Maps prominently displayed, the Richmond branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been making merry with all the fun of the fair.Guardian fauxtography in article on deportation of migrants from Israel
Among the Israel-haters saying their bit to camera in the following footage by branch honcho Alex Seymour (aka Seymour Alexander) is the incorrigible Jenny Tonge, looking and sounding as sour as always.
But the "star" of Seymour's video is a bloke with a Jewish name. He's actor John Altman, best known for playing Dot Cotton's jailbird son "Nasty"Nick Cotton in the BBC TV soap "EastEnders".
The script that Altman spews is full of spite and venom, and woeful, disgusting ignorance. Shame on him.
In the face of the deaths of hundreds by drowning as they try to reach Europe from war-torn Africa, relentlessly anti-Israeli Australian as-a-Jew blogger Anthony Loewenstein focuses on the story of a migrant flown back to Africa from Israel.ISIS Terror Cells Threaten Gaza, Sinai and Saudi Arabia
The European solution to the problem is to destroy the boats the migrants use to make their dangerous way to Europe, thus stranding them in Libya or Morocco and leaving them to their fate.
Israel found itself awash with some 60,000 migrants emerging out of Egypt’s Sinai Desert and making their illegal home in Israel. It is seeking a humane way to remove them from the country. Note that Eritrean migrants had to travel hundreds or thousands of miles though Sudan and Egypt to reach Israel. Under international law (so diligently cited when used to condemn Israel) these were the countries that actually had to offer them refuge as the first countries they came to. Yet there is no mention of their responsibility for this problem in Loewenstein’s article. As usual at the Guardian, it is all about Israel’s purported misdeeds.
In case Loewenstein’s story of the dangers faced by returned migrants like Robel Tesfahannes, whose story he chose to showcase, does not sufficiently inflame the passions of the usual crowd of Israel bashers that flock to CiF, the Guardian illustrated the story with this photograph at the head of the article:
Now, this is a shocking, but curious picture to use. Yes, this boat is undoubtedly full of Africans. They are clearly desperate to get somewhere. But aren’t we told that Israel is flying them back to Africa, not sending them back on boats? Furthermore, isn’t Rwanda a land-locked country in the middle of Africa, bordered by Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania? Didn’t Tesfahannes travel by air with 10 other Eritreans – not a boatload of men, women and children? How did Eritrean and Sudanese migrants find themselves on a boat in the middle of Africa, apparently put there by Israel?
Well, as usual a few seconds spent with a search engine (something seemingly beyond the skills of the Guardian’s editorial staff) reveals that this is actually a photograph of migrants hoping to disembark in Salerno after being rescued by the Italian naval ship “Chimera”, according to the caption in the Irish Times, which used the same exact image:
The Palestinian Authority has warned that “hundreds” of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists are setting up bases in Gaza for attacks on the Sinai Peninsula, and at least one of four recent attacks in Saudi Arabia has been linked the fanatic Islamic group.Egypt's army has killed '725 terrorists' over 6 months in Sinai campaign
The Palestinian Authority said that eight Salafist groups have set up bases in Gaza, and that many of its recruits are former Hamas members, Reshet Bet (Voice of Israel) radio reported Sunday morning. Hamas denies that the ISIS poses a threat to stability of its regime and said “only” a few dozen Salafists, supporting the ISIS, are in Gaza.
Hamas arrested a senior Salafist terrorist last month as well as dozens of the group’s terrorists in recent weeks.
A group that itself as the ISIS stated on Friday it launched mortar shells are a Hamas base in central Gaza.
Each radical Muslim group is competing to be more monstrous than the other, and Hamas last week even destroyed a tent that was turned into a mosque that ISIS supporters used.
Egypt's offensive against violent militants in the Sinai Peninsula has resulted in the deaths of 725 terrorists, a new report by the Egyptian army claims.Senior Hezbollah commander said killed in Syria
According to al-Ahram, the report, which was released on Saturday, details operations spanning the period between October 25 to April 30 of last year. It specifically details February as being the most lethal month, during which 173 terrorists were killed, and January as the calmest, with 44 on the radicals reported dead.
Apart from the body count, 1,873 suspects connected to militant groups were reported detained, with most arrests, some 575 taking place in November, and the least, 158, in January.
November also saw the discovery and destruction of the most militant hideouts by security forces, with 1,023 such cases occuring in that month alone. An additional 800 havens were also reported destroyed in the period in question.
Marwan Mughniyeh, a senior commander in Hezbollah whose cousin Imad Mughniyeh was allegedly assassinated by Israel, was killed in fierce battles in Syria on Friday, Syrian opposition sources said.A Turkish-Saudi Military Offensive on Syria?
Mughniyeh was killed in a battle with rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, in the Qalamoun region, northeast of Damascus, the sources said.
He was reported to have been the commander of special operations for the Lebanese Shiite militia, which has been fighting alongside regime forces in the Syrian civil war.
Hezbollah announced Saturday on its Al-Manar television channel that, together with regime forces, it had taken the Al-Nusra Front’s largest base in the region, at Sahlet al-Maaysra.
Worse, any Turkish air raid to bomb Damascus would expose Turkish aircraft to the risk of being hit by the powerful air defenses in Syria. Turkish warplanes are not outfitted with the critical stand-off jammer systems that would blind enemy radars. Half of the squadrons of Turkish fighters that would fly over Syrian skies may not be able to return home safely.Bi-partisan report blasts Iran for human rights violations as US continues negotiations
Then there is the bigger risk of Syrian missiles. The Scud that hit Turkish territory on March 25 proved that the US/NATO Patriot missiles stationed in southern and eastern Turkey could only protect the areas in their immediate vicinity. But Assad not only has Scuds he can fire from a range of 180-200 kilometers; he has in his arsenal unknown numbers of Scud-C ballistic missiles, which have a range of 500 kilometers, putting several big Turkish cities "within range."
Turkey simply does not have a long-range anti-missile defense architecture to counter Syrian (and/or Iranian) missiles. Being a member of the alliance, it can rely on naval NATO assets to counter such threats, but that would be too risky a gamble.
It is true that the Erdogan administration has been weighing military options against Assad for the past couple of years. It is also true that Erdogan has an obsession about getting rid of Assad and is not the most peaceful leader in the region. All the same, the Turkish president is not a suicidal man. The odds are slim for a Turkish-Saudi military offensive against Assad's Syria.
Iran insists it doesn't punish people for their beliefs, but its prison population - and a scathing new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom - say otherwise.PreOccupied Territory: Activists Jailed In Iran Touched By Khamenei’s Concern For US Blacks (satire)
The bipartisan commission's 2015 report on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s incarceration and persecution of Christians, Baha’is, Jews and minority Sunni Muslims prompted key lawmakers to call for new human rights sanctions targeting Iran’s clerical regime, and urged President Obama, whose administration is currently in nuclear negotiations with Tehran, to lead the way.
"If the Obama Administration wants to be serious about holding Iran accountable, it should be working with Congress to reinforce and expand sanctions that target Iran’s ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and human rights," Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told FoxNews.com. "But it’s not.”
Kirk, a leading legislative architect of Iranian human rights and nuclear sanctions, added “Iran’s systematic violations of religious freedom ... have gotten worse under the supposedly more ‘moderate’ presidency of Hassan Rouhani.”
The climate of persecution is in spite of Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s recent insistence that “we don’t jail people for their opinions.”
Imprisoned Iranians being held for trying to defend human and civil rights in their country are moved by the Supreme Leader’s sudden interest in the welfare of African-Americans, say the activists’ representatives.Saudi Islamist Preacher: The Jews Poison Muslim Hearts and Minds with WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook
Amid the riots and continuing racial tensions in Baltimore, a representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to Twitter with messages scolding the US for its treatment of colored people. As a result, the hundreds of activists jailed for working to secure various freedoms the West takes for granted said they were genuinely touched by the leader’s remarks.
“It’s ridiculous that even though US President is black, still such crimes against US blacks continue to occur,” tweeted the Supreme Leader, whose government and police routinely arrest and torture people for expressing dissent. Many of those arrested said they had no idea Khamenei was such a sensitive, empathetic person.
“I’ve been held for eight months without trial, ostensibly for insulting the regime,” said Ali Jafavidi. “I’ve been subjected to physical torture, threats to my family, baseless accusations of sedition, and inhumane psychological pressure, all in the name of silencing those who dare to imply the current leadership is not Allah’s gift to Iran. But you know, I’m just touched that the man behind all this abuse might actually have a caring heart after all.”
In an address posted on the Internet on May 3, 2015, Saudi Islamist preacher Abdulla Ba Neema (sometimes spelled Baneameh) said that the Jews "put poison into things that the Muslims like." According to him, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook are tools used by the Jews to poison and hearts and minds of the Muslims. "Our women's honor has been violated as a result of social networks," he said, adding that WhatsApp "is the sewage that flows in your heart." Despite his criticism of social networks, Ba Neema runs very active Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Ba Neema was paralyzed in a swimming pool accident.
Germany sees rise in anti-Semitic, anti-foreigner crime
Germany's top security official says new statistics show a sharp rise in anti-Semitic offenses last year, as well as in crimes against foreigners.Thousands attend Mauthausen liberation commemoration
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters Wednesday that anti-Semitic offenses rose 25.2 percent last year to 1,596 after declining in 2013. Crimes against foreigners were up 21.5 percent to 3,945.
De Maiziere says the rise is partially due to new reporting methods that more closely track the motivation of perpetrators, but said nonetheless "this development is worrying and must be stopped."
He says there is no political solution alone, but the "whole of society is needed."
President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann were among those attending Sunday’s ceremonies. The annual event has particular significance this year as the world marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.Survivor’s rise from the rubble of Warsaw to life in Israel
Hundreds of thousands of people died at the western Austrian camp and its subsidiaries. Many were worked to death. Others were shot, gassed, or died through medical experiments.
The camp was liberated on May 5, 1945 by American troops. Its inmates were the last of all concentration camp prisoners to be set free by the Allies.
On Friday, an Austrian website run by an anti-Holocaust organization was hacked and displayed images of child pornography.
Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner has ordered a criminal investigation and condemned the “sick, criminal attack.”
Moshe Tirosh, born Mieczyslaw Kenigswein, survived the Holocaust by hiding in the basement of the Warsaw zooVeterans march through Jerusalem to mark WWII Victory in Europe Day
The young boy emerged from the rubble of Warsaw, clinging to a woman he knew only as Mrs. Wala. She turned and walked off, and 7-year-old Mieczyslaw Kenigswein was alone, lost in the Holocaust.
He is now 78, an Israeli with a Hebrew name, Moshe Tirosh. During a visit to Warsaw, he recalled surviving the war not knowing if his parents were dead or alive — and how random twists of fate saved his life.
Tirosh’s earliest memories are of hunger and misery in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Called Miecio as a boy, he was nearly 5 when his mother, Regina, gave birth to her third child under floorboards, biting her knuckles to keep from screaming so the Germans would not discover them.
Scores of elderly veterans living in Israel marched on Sunday through Jerusalem's city center in full military uniform to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, drawing cheers and amazed looks from onlookers.Veterans Parade, Haifa, Israel (h/t Bob Knot)
The men, who had fought for various European armies during the war, were smiling and waving as they walked the sunny streets of Jerusalem.
"It's very important that people remember this day. It's very important that people come here, even 10 years from now when not all these veterans will be with us. It's very important that this thing continues as a habit to come and celebrate this day," said Netali Palalo, the grandchild of a veteran who passed away.
Israel usually observes the Nazi defeat on May 8, Victory in Europe day, as do most European countries.
Are you a dangerous driver? A new app lets you know
Are you an anxious, cautious, dangerously irresponsible, angry or hostile driver? And how often do you use your cell phone while driving?Lockheed Martin sings the praises of Israeli cyber-security firm
A new algorithmic system developed at an Israeli university can give drivers important feedback to assess their driving and talking-while-driving habits.
The app relies on smartphone sensors to collect data in real time while the user is driving, stores the data in the cloud and then analyzes it over time. The driver is presented with several outputs: classification of his or her driving style on a continuous scale; classification of the level of smartphone usage (non-user, passive, active) on a continuous scale; and feedback for a specific trip or for an accumulation of trips.
Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev associate professor Eli Rohn and six of his information systems engineering students developed this sophisticated app with several possible practical uses in mind.
A newly announced $25 million investment by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin along with several partners in Israeli cyber-security start-up Cybereason is the company putting its money where its mouth is. Several months ago, LH checked out Cybereason’s protection system, and liked it enough to recommend it to others, “after they compared our solution against a dozen others from the top industry players,” CEO Lior Div told The Times of Israel. The series B funding round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from existing investor CRV.Israeli aid team reunites with Nepalese woman rescued from rubble
In fact, LH was so impressed with the results they got from Cybereason that they began offering it to their own customers – among them most of the top Fortune 100 companies, and the US federal government. CyberReason is now the security system recommended by LH to its customers for protection from a wide malware and hack attacks.
Now, LH has decided to commit a substantial sum of investment money to Cybereason. “The Cybereason platform is an outstanding complement to the tradecraft and technologies Lockheed Martin uses every day to defend our network and our clients,” said Rich Mahler, director of commercial cyber services at Lockheed Martin, announcing the investment. “Its real-time detection and attack tracing capabilities enable us to effectively leverage threat intelligence and provide our government and commercial customers with a calculated, strategic approach to cyber defense. In addition to deploying Cybereason internally and partnering with it, we also participated in this latest round as a strategic investor.”
An Israeli-led rescue team that pulled a Nepalese woman out of the rubble in the capital Kathmandu five days after a massive earthquake leveled much of the city late last month, was reunited with the woman on Friday, some 10 days after her rescue.IDF hospital in Kathmandu closed in official ceremony
Workers from the Israeli group IsraAID, along with local soldiers and a team of experts from France and Norway, worked into the night for 10 hours to pull Krishna Devi Khadka to safety on April 30.
On Friday, she met with members of the Israeli team.
“Krishna told me she remembered everything and was so grateful to our rescue team led by Eran Magen as well as the Israeli hospital staff,” said IsraAID head of mission in Nepal Yotam Polizer.
Khadka, 24, had been stuck underneath a collapsed hotel alongside three bodies and could only breathe due to an air pocket that formed alongside her, IsraAid said in a statement.
In a joint ceremony with their Nepali counterparts, the Israeli army officially closed its field hospital in Kathmandu on Sunday.Nepal expresses 'deep gratitude' to Israel as emergency teams prepare to return home
As of the weekend, IDF medical personnel had treated 1,427 victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the mountainous Asian nation last month, including 90 life-saving surgeries, six cesarean sections and two natural births.
IDF engineers continue to collaborate with local authorities and have evaluated the stability of 295 public structures damaged in the earthquake, and IDF mental health officers continue to hold seminars for local education staff intended to help the population in their transition following the disaster.
The field hospital established in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, was the largest hospital ever erected by the IDF.
At a small function to mark the closure of the emergency aid facility, Nepal's Urban Development Minister Narayan Khadka expressed the Nepal government's gratitude to Israel for its help.Israel treats 4-year-old Gaza patient
"Let me express our sincere gratitude to the government of Israel and to the people of Israel for helping us in times of very critical hours for Nepal," Khadka said.
The hospital offered operating rooms, imaging facilities, advanced labs and an intensive care section with 150 Israelis taking care of its patients. It also had a synagogue and a kosher kitchen.
Apart from medical serves, Israel's emergency response teams, working under the IDF's Home Front Command, scanned 332 public buildings to check whether they were still stable, and carried out 605 safety courses for local Nepalese members of the public.
Israel's ambassador to Nepal, Yaron Mayer, said he was optimistic about the nation's future.
"I did mention that Nepal is crying and the whole world is crying, but I also said that I am optimistic for the future and looking ahead, things are now starting to rebuild. It will take time I know, but things will be better and Nepal will be stronger and we will be united working for these challenges," Mayer said.
Yara from Gaza was transferred to Israel for medical treatment after she was injured in a car accident in the strip. Three months later she has managed to surprise hospital staff at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon by starting to walk just a few days after she was given a prosthetic leg.
Now released from the hospital, Yara can walk and even learned Hebrew during her time in the Israeli hospital. Back in Gaza, Yara was reunited with her parents for the first time since she left to get treatment in Israel.
The accident happened three months ago, near the young girl's home in the Tuffah district in Gaza City. Yara and 15 other children had been playing near a main road when a truck that passed by did not notice the children and ran into Yara. (h/t Bob Knot)
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