Posted on 05/24/2008 7:48:17 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
The parents of Iraqi babies with congenital heart problems are facing a dilemma: should they allow their children to be treated in Israeli hospitals when they have been brought up to believe that Israel is their mortal enemy?
Hostility towards the Jewish state in Iraq is so strong that many parents refuse to travel to Tel Aviv for free life-saving hole-in-the-heart surgery.
Some accept the offer but never reveal where their children were treated, even though the operation has not been available in Iraq since its leading cardiac clinic burnt down after the American-led invasion in 2003.
Other parents are seeking treatment elsewhere in the Arab world, despite prices of up to £15,000 for heart surgery in private clinics. They fear the stigma of being treated in Israel.
Aria, an 18-month-old baby from Kirkuk in northern Iraq, was waiting to return home last week after a successful operation at the Edith Wolfson medical centre in Tel Aviv, where 11 Iraqi children are being treated. The surgery is sponsored by Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), a humanitarian organisation founded in Israel in 1996 and supported by private sources, including Christian charity groups.
Aria’s young mother, Paiman, paid tribute to the clinic and the surgeon, Dr Lior Sasson, saying: “He saved little Aria’s life.”
However, the parents of other Iraqi children in urgent need of surgery said they had rejected free treatment when they heard it would be performed in Israel.
Sara, 2, needs surgery for a defective heart valve. After taking her from Iraq to neighbouring Jordan for preliminary tests, her mother, Shatha, 37, turned down treatment at the Wolfson centre. She said she had had no idea before she left for Amman, the Jordanian capital, that the operation would be in Israel.
“We’ve been foes of Israel since before we were born. We firmly believe that they are our enemies. You can’t change this overnight,” she said.
She is now planning to have the operation performed in Algeria instead: its government agreed to pay for 14 Iraqi children to be treated there rather than be sent to Israel.
Shatha’s friend, an Iraqi Kurd from Kirkuk who was too afraid to give her first name, also travelled to Jordan so that her son, Ahmed, could be assessed for a heart operation. She too turned down the free treatment offered by SACH.
“Now I can sleep with a clear conscience. I’m able to hold my head up high and not be ashamed by having my son treated in Algeria,” she said.
The opposite view was taken by Mohammed, a 37-year-old Kurdish aid worker, whose daughter Souz, 22 months, needed urgent heart surgery. He borrowed thousands of dollars to pay for treatment in Iraq and Jordan, but the doctors there told him there was nothing they could do for her. When he heard she could be treated in Israel, he did not hesitate. She has now had surgery and is making a good recovery.
“I can honestly tell you that I didn’t worry for a moment about where or who will operate on my daughter,” he said. “Nor did I worry about the reaction of my family and relatives. Anyone who blames me should put themselves in my place and live for nearly two years watching his daughter die in front of his eyes, and then tell me what he’d have done.”
His wife, who accompanied Souz to Israel for the operation, added: “The doctors were helpful and understanding, and were sympathetic to our suffering.” She had not been charged anything and would be able to return home with the £1,000 given to her by her husband.
Apprehension about a hostile reaction in Iraq is common among families who opted for treatment in Israel.
The mother of Mustafa, 4, from Kirkuk, who has undergone two heart operations in six months, said: “My only fear, which spoils my joy at my son’s escape from death, is the revenge my family can expect when we go back to Iraq.”
Simon Fisher, the Liverpool-born executive director of SACH, said: “We welcome every child in need regardless of origin.”
I would focus my attention on Islam.............. but I have to say, any parent that would deny their child life saving surgery, for any reason, is heartless.
But, then again, what do I know?!?.............. I’m an evil, xenophobic, Christian.
That tell you alot how mess up Arabs are that some of them are refuse to be treated by Israeli doctors
Words of wisdom.
It is cruel, but it is better for us to have fewer terrorists in the long run.
Great quote. Perfect.
But I recognize that not all Christians are like this, don't get me wrong.
Having said that, I agree with you.
(What I just described is like the story of the man on a house during a flood who, after drowning, asks God why he didn't save him - to which God replies: I sent you men with a canoe; I sent you a helicopter, but you sent them away - you didn't accept the help I sent.)
I've paraphrased the story from memory, so excuse the errors.
Wow, what a country!
The US should have insisted from the start that for Iraq to thrive in the future, it must discard the hatred of Israel, less for Israel, than for its own sake.
For this reason as well, Israel should have dispatched many humanitarian workers to help the poorest and weakest of Iraq, even if quietly funded by the US. It would take the mastery of diplomacy and tact, and great bravery on the part of the Israelis.
To give what is vital and to ask nothing in return, to those in deprivation and despair.
Right now, the US military is deeply admired by individual Iraqis in ways hard to judge, for this very reason. At some point, with diminishing hostilities, Israelis should put a human face on “Jews”, to crumble the wall of hate in Iraq.
The rest of the Muslim world will still hate Israel, but while they continued to scream their hatred, the silence from Iraq would be deafening.
OH MAN Salem more truther words coming out that former PM of Israel Golda Meir
All it will take is a few courageous people to do the sensible thing and the World WILL start to change.
I would go to IRAN if it would save my child. Sheesh.
Well, I’m glad God willed your sister to live!!! :-p
When they say He works in mysterious ways, they're not kidding...
Wink wink. Algeria. Yeah, sure.
Algeria is known for it’s surgical expertise yes?
I think it’s known for being on the make-believe flight path. They will go to Israel, as they should. Their parents just won’t have their passports stamped. The Israelis do this all the time, even for no credit.
One side saves another. Continuously.
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