Comments (0)Israeli Team Honored on Return from Haiti
January 29, 2010Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
The 200-member Israeli military medical and rescue team in Haiti was honored upon its return to Israel.
“You raised peoples’ spirits; you raised the name of the State of Israel and the name of the IDF,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday morning during an official military ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport. “Precisely during these days, during which there are those who conspire against us, and distort and degrade the name of the IDF and the name of the State of Israel, you showed the world the true spirit of the IDF.”
Senior officials of the Israel Defense Forces and the government attended the ceremony.
“You have merited praise from all over the world and have turned into a source of pride for every Jew and every Israeli,” said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. “Lately there have been those who complain about the IDF and have chosen to muddy its face, and complain against its morals and ethics. In your work you have proven the opposite to be true—our values guide us to cross continents in order to save lives. That is what guides us today and will continue to guide us in the future.
“As commander of this army, I was excited to represent you,” he said.
The IDF made the decision to pull out after the arrival of more aid forces to Haiti, as well as the U.S. military and civilian aid organizations. Several Haitian hospitals are also operating in some capacity, the army said.
The team left more than 30 tons of medical equipment and supplies in Haiti to help further earthquake relief efforts, according to the IDF. It will be distributed to tent cities throughout Haiti, coordinated by the Israeli ambassador in the country.
In Haiti, the delegation treated more than 1,100 patients, conducted 319 successful surgeries, delivered 16 babies including three Caesarean sections, and saved many from the ruins of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. The team also brought a 5-year-old Haitian child to have heart surgery in Israel, according to the IDF.
Barkat Rebuked For Not Evacuating Jews
Israel’s state prosecutor rebuked Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat for not evacuating Jews living in an illegal building in eastern Jerusalem.
State Prosecutor Moshe Lador chided Barkat in a letter Thursday, saying that “Israel is a law-abiding country, and in lawful countries court orders must be carried out.”
The Supreme Court on four occasions in the last year has ordered the Jerusalem Municipality to evacuate Beit Yonatan in the Arab eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
Eight Jewish families are living in the building, which was erected without a permit more than five years ago.
Human Right Watch: Hamas Targeted Israeli Vivilians
Human Rights Watch rejected a Hamas claim that the Palestinians did not target Israeli civilians with rockets during the Gaza war.
In a statement Thursday, the human rights group said there is strong evidence that “Hamas’ claim that rockets were intended to hit Israeli military targets and only accidentally harmed civilians is belied by the facts.”
A Hamas commission investigated claims in the United Nations’ Goldstone report and will turn the report over to the United Nations before the Feb. 5 deadline set for responses, according to reports.
The Goldstone report found that both Israel and the Palestinians committed possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in last winter’s Gaza war. The report asked both sides to order independent probes.
Human Rights Watch said that Hamas deliberately targeted civilians with rockets during the Gaza war and restated that targeting civilians is a war crime, the French news agency AFP reported.
The Hamas report was obtained and reported by the Associated Press.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups fired more than 800 rockets into southern Israel during the three-week war; most hit civilian areas. Hamas also fired the rockets from civilian areas, which Human Rights Watch also called a war crime, according to the AP.
The United Nations has threatened to turn the cases over to international courts if the sides do not conduct independent investigations.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.