Posted on 12/28/2004 3:28:39 AM PST by white trash redneck
A 150-member Israeli aid delegation canceled its mission to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, after the country - one of the hardest hit in the Asian tsunami disaster - refused to accept the Israeli team, Israel Defense Forces officials said.
However, Israel is sending supplies at Sri Lanka's request, including 10,000 blankets contributed by the IDF, tents, nylon sheeting and water containers. The IDF Home Front Command is organizing aid preparations.
The Israeli humanitarian organization Latet ("To give") is sending a separate aid package Tuesday. It is filling a jumbo jet with 18 tons of supplies worth $50,000, at Sri Lanka's request. The group is considering sending additional aid shortly.
Sri Lanka said on Tuesday the death toll from the tsunami had risen to about 15,000 people, including at least 200 foreign tourists. Sri Lankan military spokesman Daya Ratnayake said more than 1.5 million people had been displaced from their homes - around 7.5 percent of Sri Lanka's population.
About 26,000 people were confirmed dead Tuesday in the wake of the tsunami that slammed into coasts from India to Indonesia two days before, with some estimates nearly doubling that toll.
The aid delegation that had been set to depart for Sri Lanka on Tuesday included medical teams and representatives of the IDF and Defense Ministry, who were planning to provide humanitarian assistance and participate in search-and-rescue operations.
The delegation was planning to assemble a medical facility comprised of specialist doctors, and set up emergency, internal medicine and pediatric departments, as well as laboratory and X-ray facilities in the southern part of Sri Lanka.
A far smaller team landed in Sri Lanka on Monday night, headed by four doctors from Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem. The team was carrying medicine and baby food.
The doctors - who specialize in rescue operations, trauma and pediatrics - were also checking the viability of setting up a field hospital in the area, and advised Israel to send a larger team, such as the one Sri Lanka rejected.
"We will advise Israel and the Foreign Ministry... to send something more massive," said Dr. Avi Rivkind, director of Hadassah's trauma unit. "We will try to use our... broad experience in dealing with terror attacks and rescuing masses to help in this disaster as well."
Israel is weighing the option of sending similar delegations to Thailand, where more than 1,000 people have died, and India, where more than 4,000 people have died, but has yet to make a final decision on the matter.
Health Min. team leaves for Thailand A Health Ministry contingent left for Thailand on Monday night to aid in the rescue efforts there after around 1,000 people, including tourists, were killed on the islands of Phuket and Phi Phi. The contingent includes doctors, nurses and four members of the IDF, Israel Radio reported.
Israel has also offered its assistance to India. Mofaz passed on the offer to Indian authorities through Israel's military attache Colonel Moshe Krawitz.
Mofaz offered aid of two kinds - a search-and-rescue team from the Home Front Command, as well as consignments of food and medicine.
A ZAKA rescue-and-recovery team left for the disaster areas Monday night armed with its equipment, including materials and tools for identifying bodies, as well as body bags.
"We are waiting for any instruction," Yehuda Meshi Zahav, the director of the organization, said Monday.
Anti-Semitic reason.....I dont think so. I am form India and as I said before in an earlier post on this thread, Indians are definitely not anti-semitic. Hell they dont even know what that (anti-semitism) means. Same I think should go for Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka arnt Muslims and are far away from Isreal. Doesnt sound logical why India and Sri Lanka should be anti-semitic. India for one has excellent relations with Isreal. The whole of what people here call "3rd world" isnt Muslim or Arab or anti-semitic.
What does it mean ?
Is this at the request of the 'six percent population; who make their presence feet like sixty percent.. .or WHAT?
Perhaps a concern for the safety of these Israeli teams, because some/all of this six percent are Islamic radicals who despite the conditions; would carry on their business as usual?
Or.. .is something else going on inside this Government to explain their rejection of desperately needed humanitarianant aid and expertise. . .
Keep it up. I have read too many stupid Polish jokes. I think the poles need to give some of the stuff back to the Americans.
Appreciate your comment. The IDF team would be considered trained volunteers.
"I can speak conversational French"
I. Am. Speechless. With. Surprise.
Qwinn
He's probably posting from Canada, where even the dolts speak French.
OK, but this one will be nasty :)
While on vacation in a foreign land, an American happened to chance upon a curious store. The sign outside read: "Brains for Sale". Intrigued, he went inside and began to wander about its premises.
On the shelves he found a variety of brains. A Chinese brain was priced at $0.95/lb.; a Russian brain at $1.49/lb.; an English at $2.89/lb.; and a French at $4.99/lb. However, he did not see an American brain. After a while of searching he found one. He was amazed by its price: $89.99/lb!!!
Filled with pride, the American exclaimed to the store attendant: "I see that the American brain is the most valuable!" To this the attendant replied: "Sir, do you have any idea how many Americans it takes to produce a pound of brains?"
BTW A Polish one cost of course less than 1$/lb.
Who is on first. Didn't you know ?
How America Works
Let's see if I understand how America works lately... If a woman burns her thighs on a hot coffee she was holding in her lap while driving, she blames the restaurant.
If your teenage son kills himself, you blame rock and roll music or the musician he liked.
If you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day for forty years and you die of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco companies.
If your teenage daughter gets pregnant by the football captain, you blame the school for poor sex education.
If your neighbour crashes his car into a tree while driving home drunk, you blame the bartender.
If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot up heroin was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean needles.
If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.
And if a crazed person breaks into the cockpit and tries to kill the pilot at 35,000 feet, and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the deceased blames the airline.
I must have lived too long to understand the world anymore, so if I die while I am parked in front of this computer, I want you to blame Bill Gates. Ok?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.