Israeli medical and aid teams have long helped their enemies. Illustrative. Photo courtesy of Israel GPO. By Kobi Gideon / GPO.
The governments of Israel and Syria are mortal enemies, but that doesn’t mean that the Jewish State isn’t moved by the plight of the Syrian people suffering due to that nation’s brutal civil war. In fact, the Syrian people are one of the topics of discussion for Israeli Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara as he meets with various humanitarian groups in the US.
A press release from Kara’s department quoted the Israeli as saying before he left, “As the humanitarian crisis is taking place in Syria, the impact of which is reverberating all over the world, I intend to discuss it and how to cope both with officials and with aid agencies.” It’s not the first time Israel has taken active steps to help Syrian civilians.
In September, the Israeli humanitarian group IsrAID reported that they had an Advanced Emergency Team in Europe “providing basic medical and psychosocial support to refugees”, the majority of which are Syrians.
And that same month, The Jerusalem Post reported that Kara met with the Swiss ambassador to ask that they not deport Syrian Druze refugees from their nation. Kara discussed with the Swiss diplomat the broader refugee issue in Europe as well, according to the report.
Helping the civilians from enemy nations is nothing new for Israel. One organization that has been doing that is Save a Child’s Heart, which the press release from the Israeli Ministry of Regional Cooperation noted provides “life-saving heart treatment to children all over the world, including the Arab states and countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel.”
Kara intends to promote the work of Save a Child’s Heart while in the US. “I will present the important humanitarian contribution of Israel to the world, as is reflected in part by the important activities of ‘Save a Child’s Heart’, to save the lives of children even from enemy countries,” Kara was quoted as saying. “This is the best way to show Israel’s moral path.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 29, 2015)