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.
Check the dates.
Good for them. But I didn't see anything about money.
I did, reason I asked the question.
Rejecting them because they are Jews? I don't see it actually stated in the article. Am I missing something?
No one has suggested otherwise. The point--obvious to everyone else, apparently--is why in this time of disaster they tell only one country not to help out as they have offered.
I guess it's just a coincidence. I guess the US should withold aid from them--I mean, we can offer aid to whoever we like as well.
I can also see a possibility that the security of the Israeli team might be a strain
during such a disaster and outweigh any aide value other than financial.
You do not know whether this is the case, simply because it is the only story to be published.
Well, if the refusal is motivated by anti-Semitism, it is a deeply obscene move.
But I bet the Israelis send the aid anyway....helping Sri Lanka in spite of whatever happened.
"Rejecting them because they are Jews? I don't see it actually stated in the article. Am I missing something?"
I don't get it either, but I heard that for example our church sent only money, because they said it would be pointless and ineffective to send people, food etc. - these should be sent by the nearest countries - Japan, China etc.
Which if one fully reads the article instead of just the headline...that's what is happening! The refusal was of the IDF, not any and all help being offered from Israel.
Also the time difference in the two stories is not minutes but 24 hours 17 minutes.
Well, I did read the entire article. Twice. Obviously anti-Semitism is implied, but I don't see it stated.
We always base our opinions on the information we have at the time--is this news to you?
If you are so skeptical about its veracity, why are YOU commenting on it?
2 - How do you know other countries weren't refused ?
I don't. You point being...?
Oh--since you don't know if the story is true or not, by YOUR standards, you can't comment.
That old saw....
We comment on each particular story as it comes in. Interesting how you have made yourself truth police on this one story--why aren't you waiting until there are additional stories> Why so concerned about this one? Why not just sit back and wait til there is more on it--how come it's so important for you to monitor these posts and wag your finger?
Don't bother answering, I think I know why.
Which is what the Israeli organization is doing.
Why in the world would you want Israel to invest in tsunami warning devices in the Indian ocean?!!LOL.
They are a nearly landlocked tiny country far away.
Your bias is begining to show now amigo.
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