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IDF Saving Lives in Haiti or Committing "War Crimes" in Gaza - Something Doesn't Compute

(Pajamas Media) Lenny Ben-David - This week marks the end of the three-month deadline given by the UN General Assembly for Israel's response to the Goldstone report on the Gaza war, which charged Israel (and nominally, Hamas) with serious violations of international and humanitarian law. How is it, then, that Israel, so skillful in saving lives in Haiti, stands accused by the UN of "war crimes, crimes against humanity, willful killings, and willfully causing great suffering"? Something just doesn't compute with the images of the IDF in Haiti. By nature, Israelis will go to the ends of the earth - literally - to save lives. Save a Child's Heart is an Israel-based group of pediatric heart surgeons who have saved more than 2,000 children with congenital heart defects. The children come from 36 countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, and the Palestinian Authority. The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid (IsraAID) sent additional medical units to Haiti. The group swung into action after the tsunami in 2004, providing on-the-ground assistance and health care to Sri Lanka. Israeli eye doctors restore sight to patients in Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and Palau. Saving lives is something Israelis do as part of their national and religious ethos. The writer served as a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington.
2010-01-29 08:38:17
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