Daphne Anson: Israel Aids The Philippines, But The BBC Keeps Shtum About It

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Israel Aids The Philippines, But The BBC Keeps Shtum About It

An IDF soldier with aid to the Philippines

In a rectangular box, the BBC News website has this eye-catching item about the typhoon-ravaged Philippines:

Aid at a glance
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: $500m emergency loans and $23m in grants
AUSTRALIA: $9.3m package, including medical staff, shelter materials, water containers and hygiene kits
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: $11m
JAPAN: $10m, including tents and blankets. 25-person medical team already sent
SOUTH KOREA: $5m plus a 40-strong medical team
INDONESIA: Logistical aid including aircraft, food, generators and medicine
UAE: $10m in humanitarian aid
US: $20m in humanitarian aid, 90 marines, aircraft carrier plus logistics support
UK: $16m (£10m) package including emergency shelter, water and household items. HMS Daring deployed to region

From this list, Israel is conspicuous by its absence.

Philippines-bound Israeli troops at Ben Gurion Airport

Yet, as in all disasters of the kind that's devastated the Philippines, except when (as in the case of Iran's earthquake in 2003) its help has been hatefully rejected (“The Islamic Republic of Iran accepts all kinds of humanitarian aid from all countries and international organizations with the exception of the Zionist regime”) Israeli humanitarian aid to the stricken nation has been swift and generous.

This present instance is called Operation Island of Hope, and, as reported here, on Monday

'a lead expedition of five search, rescue, and medical experts arrived in Tacloban, Philippines and formed a situation assessment determining the urgency for a rapid IDF response. Based on this assessment the of the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Benjamin (Benny) Gantz, order to deploy a large-scale delegation to the disaster zone.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, IDF Spokesman:

“The Home Front Command has soldiers and officers who excel in the fields of search and rescue and highly professional medical doctors experienced in such complex missions. Over the years they have been to Japan, Haiti, Ghana, Bulgaria, and Turkey, where they diligently donated from their resources and knowledge to those in need.”

An advanced multi-department medical facility, equipped with approximately 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies from Israel, will be rapidly established in the city of Tacloban to provide medical care for disaster casualties. The facility will be constructed of a children’s department, a women’s department, an ambulatory care department, and a general admission department, operated by IDF doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, mental health professionals, x-ray technician, and lab workers.

The delegation comprises of officials in the National Search and Rescue Unit of the Home Front Command headed by the unit commander, Colonel Ramtin Sabti, as well as senior doctors in the IDF Medical Corps, headed by the Vice Surgeon General of the IDF Medical Corps, Colonel Doctor Dudu Dagan.'

1500 toys are being provided to the children of the devastated region, and a team almost 150-strong flew out of Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday.

There really is no excuse for the BBC's silence: it certainly knows of the existence of the official IDF blog (to which I've linked above), which is choc-a-bloc with news, videos, and photographs, and is constantly updated.

So, will the BBC (like Israel-baiters on social media who have never a kind word for the Zionist Entity) stay shtum indefinitely? We shall see ...

4 comments:

Corin Keiler-Loyd14 November 2013 at 12:22
I have submitted a complaint and await a reply.
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Daphne Anson14 November 2013 at 17:34
Their response will be interesting, Corin!
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Sarah Lawson15 November 2013 at 00:59
I have noticed this glaring omission, too. It is really shameful! There should be widespread praise for Israel's generosity.
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Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
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Europe is today facing a crisis as serious as the confrontation with Nazism. If Western leaders continue behaving like Chamberlain and fail to stand up to this global threat, it could usher in a new Dark Age in which the Judeo-Christian culture is subsumed by primitive barbarism. The writing is on the wall Isi Leibler (12 January 2015)

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The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.
Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.
Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance.
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[I]t’s impossible to believe that an active antisemite wouldn’t – if only opportunistically – seek out somewhere to nestle in the manifold pleats of Israel-bashing, whether in generally diffuse anti-Zionism, or in more specific Boycott and Divestment Campaigns, Israeli Apartheid Weeks, End the Occupation movements and the like....[T]ell me that not a single Jew-hater finds the activity congenial, that criticising Israel can “never” be an expression of Jew-hating, not even when it takes the form of accusing Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs... Howard Jacobson (The Independent, 27 May 2013)

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