Sri Lanka rejects Israel rescuers

BBC ^

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

Israel has cancelled plans to send a 150-person rescue mission to Sri Lanka after the devastated island objected to the military composition of the team.

The delegation - including 60 soldiers - had been due to set off on Tuesday to help after Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Instead, a smaller team will escort a convoy carrying emergency supplies, Israeli officials said.

Sri Lanka restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, despite objections from the island's Muslim minority.

[bikepacker67]

We shouldn't give one red cent to the Sri Lankans - you want to spurn Israelis offer for help, you must not need ours either.

[Lonely Bull]

maybe that's why Sri-Lanka received the brunt of the Tsunami's GOD does send messages to people, maybe they still have no clue...

I wonder what message God meant to send to Florida this summer. Or New York a few years ago. Or the people at that tower in Siloam two thousand years ago.

I'm not at all averse to the idea that God has messages to send in today's world, but with Yasser Arafat living to a fairly comfortable old age while thousands of young children die along the Indian Ocean, I am skeptical that lifespan or means of death necessarily means anything like that.

[missyme]

GOD acts in very mysterious ways, and even though we might see all the death especially children as tragic there death might have another meaning for GOD. We fear what we don't know.

[KneelBeforeZod]

F them then

[wardaddy]

Sri Lanka has a never ending religious war.

I don't think religious tolerance is on the menu.

[oldbrowser]

"Well, I'll just tear up the check I was gonna sent to the relief fund."
Good point. I'm willing to bet that all countries hit by this disaster will reject Israeli help.

I wonder if they will reject our help?
Or just grab it , ask for more and then criticize us for not giving more and doing it quicker.

[Lonely Bull]

Very sad event-capped off with religious bigotry.

It seems that way, doesn't it?

Now, I don't have any sympathy for the likely reason, but I'm surprised by the "let them suffer" reactions--if only because that seems to be the Sri Lanka government's reaction too.

So maybe there's a sharp moral distinction between "oh, no, we can't have Israeli soldiers here!" and "making a statement" against that government. I'm not one of those "moral equivalence!" people. But if both result in the withholding of aid from people in need, aid that would come from people are otherwise willing and easily able to do so, the distinction begins to vanish before my eyes. Those who are more sensitive to nuance than I am, can you please help me see again?

[Lonely Bull]

GOD acts in very mysterious ways, and even though we might see all the death especially children as tragic there death might have another meaning for GOD. We fear what we don't know.

I agree on your points here--any obvious, overarching message would be very mysterious (and BTW, I don't mean "mysterious" in any sarcastic way) indeed.

[mylife]

Sri Lanka has a never ending religious war. I don't think religious tolerance is on the menu.

L0L! My Brother is on the mainland and was telling me of this tremendously religion tolerant city where all religions were welcome. But he added...there was a strange vibe there. Turns out it was 40 religion inspired murders worth of weird vibe! L0L

[mollynme]

More from Sri Lanka - a woman with relatives in the area called into our local (Denver) radio station to say that she had been told by her family that aid being given out by their government was not going to the places that needed it most. Instead, it was going to places that were more important politically. The poorer, more devastated areas, were being ignored.

They recommended donations to charities providing direct help and not to any that let the Sri Lankan government handle the aid.

[alameda]

Lets not tear up our checks like oldgeezer and instead
send them to people have been doing good christian relief work like WorldVision. Any human kindness now will be multiplied many times over and who knows it may relieve the suffering for some of those who hold no hatred towards christians.
I just put on my flameproof underwear just in case..

[Petronski]

Yes -- the very same one that had planes on the tarmac and ready to fly here on 9/11, but were turned down for fear of offending our Muslim "allies."

Sometimes the Bush Administration can really F*** things up. I'm sorry for the language, but I had never heard this tidbit before (or don't remember it), and it really gets me very angry. Not cranky---angry.

[Petronski]

Isn't World Vision all tied up with the UN?

[Peach]

You don't need to tell me; it's what I've been counseling.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Dear Sri Lanka officials: shub it. (I wouldn't even send the small convoy after that)

[NYC GOP Chick]

Actually, as others have pointed out, their help was declined because we didn't need it.

[Petronski]

If you don't remember, we didn't need their medical teams because there was NO! surviors on 9-11.

We didn't know that until the 14th or 15th.

[Petronski]

I'd like to see this thing documented one way or another.

[RightWinger]

Political leaders are jerks, as we all know.
The average tsunami victim will welcome the help from Israel & you.