Israel helps Syrians brave enough to seek medical treatment from the Jews

An Israeli girl (left) smiles at a Syrian girl who suffered severe injuries when a shell exploded in her village.

“.מי שהציל נפש אחת - כאילו הציל עולם ומלואו” 

“Whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved the entire world.”

(Associated Press) NAHARIYA, Israel — It looks like a standard scene in the corner of the children's intensive care unit at a hospital in this northern Israeli town. The counter is jammed with stuffed animals, and balloons shaped like princesses float against the ceiling. A nervous, silent father hovers over his injured daughter.

But he and the girl are Syrians, spirited across the border by the Israeli military for medical treatment unavailable amid the civil war at home. He is silent because he cannot speak Hebrew, nervous because his presence in Israel, Syria's long-time enemy, could place his family in danger if his trip is discovered.

He came to the hospital six days ago, following after his daughter. He refuses to say how he arrived, and hospital staff step in quickly to deflect questions about the journey. He has no contact with his family at home. All of this, he says, is worth it.

“For my daughter, I'm willing to do anything,” said the father, who, like his 12-year-old daughter, could not be named because he fears repercussions in Syria.

While he was grateful for high-quality medical care, he was visibly afraid of the potential consequences of his trip, speaking in one-word answers and keeping his eyes lowered. He checked footage filmed by an AP Television News crew to make sure his daughter's face was obscured.

On both sides of the Syrian civil war, militant groups like Hezbollah and fighters linked to al-Qaida are virulently opposed to Israel's existence.

The Syrian regime itself is a longtime Israeli enemy, and its citizens are banned from travel there, facing possible jail time if they are discovered.

The two countries have fought two wars, and Israel has annexed the Golan Heights, a plateau it captured when Syria attacked Israel in 1967.

President Bashar Assad and his late father Hafez, the former Syrian ruler, have used their anti-Israeli stance as a source of legitimacy and have hosted and funded anti-Israeli militants.

A young Syrian girl in Israeli hospital

Generations of Syrians have grown up under propaganda vilifying the Jewish state.

All of this means that the father's presence in Israel could mean trouble for his family back home from any number of groups.

Those fears, said Dr. Zonis Zeev, the head of the children's ICU at Western Galilee Medical Center in the city of Nahiriya, are often the hardest for the patients to overcome.

"Probably at some time they were told about the 'animals' on the other side of the border, us, like the Zionists or the Jews," he said. "So they are terrified, and we have to treat the anxiety not less than treating the physical part. Sometimes it is much harder."

The hospital has treated 44 Syrian patients since March 27, four of them children as young as 3 years old. The 12-year-old daughter is one of seven Syrians currently scattered throughout different wards of the hospital, most guarded by Israeli soldiers stationed outside their rooms.

The Ziv Medical Center in the city of Safed, along with Army field hospitals, have also taken in Syrian patients.

Dr. Masad Barhoum, director-general of the hospital, said those numbers were a “drop in the ocean” given the scale of violence in Syria. The United Nations announced last month that their estimated death toll in the Syrian civil war had topped 100,000 people. Still, he said, his doctors are proud to offer whatever help they can.

In the case of the 12-year-old girl, her father had taken her to an aunt's house, thinking she would be safer there than at home. Instead, standing in the doorway of the sitting room 16 days ago, the girl was struck by flying shrapnel. The metal damaged her kidneys and spleen and wounded her back, said Zeev, the ICU chief.

The daughter underwent surgery in a hospital in Syria. It was there, the father said, that he heard secondhand whispers that treatment was available in Israel. “I heard from people that they treat people well here,” he said.

After five days in the Syrian hospital, the girl said, a relative of her aunt took her to the border.

The hospital used Arabic-speaking teachers and social workers to talk to the girl, and the aunt of another patient became like a surrogate mother to the rest of the ward. The staff provided comforts like a red stuffed elephant and portable DVD player. Her spirits were lifted five days later when her father showed up.

Is it the Christians’ turn to be driven out of Egypt?

Coptic Church burns in Egypt

Most people know that Israel has a sizable Arab minority, about 20% of the population. But surprisingly few people know that about half of Israel’s Jews are of Middle Eastern background.

This dates back to the years following Israel’s War of Independence when the Arab world systematically drove out their Jewish population, a flood of 900,000 refugees, most of whom fled to Israel.

In Egypt, Jews had been in a precarious position since the 1930s when the Nazis started funding the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood launched anti-Jewish pogroms from 1942 onwards while the Egyptian government imposed increasingly harsh legal restrictions on Jews. By 1956 more than half the Jews of Egypt had fled.

Following Egypt’s defeat in its 1967 war against Israel, all Jewish men between 17 and 60 were thrown out of the country or arrested and tortured for years. Some 35,000 Jews escaped to Israel; another 43,000 fled to Brazil, France, the U.S. and Argentina.

They arrived in their new homes destitute, as the Egyptian government confiscated their assets. A few Egyptian Jewish families were wealthy and left behind some impressive properties. For example, the Canadian embassy in Cairo is housed in the stately former home of Ovadia Salem, director of the Chemla department store.

There have been Jews in Egypt for at least 2,600 years, probably for a thousand years longer than that. In the 1920s, there were still 80,000 Egyptian Jews. Today, Egypt’s Jewish community numbers less than 100.

Canadian embassy in Cairo, former residence of Ovadia Salem and his family

Egypt still has a sizable Christian community of 8 to 10 million Coptic Christians, or about  10% of the population. But that number is rapidly shrinking.

Copts have always been under threat and have faced discrimination and occasional violence. Since the overthrow of Mubarak, however, the number of attacks on Copts have greatly increased and became worse after the election of a Muslim Brotherhood government.

Islamists have targeted homes, shops and businesses owned by Copts and killed Coptic Christians outright. In 2011, 93,000 Copts fled in Egypt; since the election of President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood a year ago, at least another 100,000 Christians have fled. And still the level of violence against Egyptian Christians continues to mount.

In the past few days, Islamist have looted and razed  40 churches and attacked 26 others, in addition to numerous attacks on homes and businesses. Yesterday, Islamists paraded three Franciscan nuns through the streets of Cairo, as if they were prisoners of war. 

None of this is exactly a surprise. While issuing perfunctory condemnations of violence for the benefit of the foreign press, the Muslim Brotherhood has been explicitly threatening the Christian population.

Safwat Hegazy, a prominent Islamic scholar, and a leader of the current pro-Muslim Brotherhood protests, posted a video on YouTube before the army overthrew Morsi’s presidency, saying: 

A message to the church of Egypt, from an Egyptian Muslim: I tell the church — by Allah, and again, by Allah — if you conspire and unite with the remnants [the opposition] to bring Morsi down, that will be another matter…. our red line is the legitimacy of Dr. Muhammad Morsi. Whoever splashes water on it, we will splash blood on him.

After all, the Muslim Brotherhood can’t take on the army, but the Christians are defenceless. The police can’t help them (supposing they wanted to) as their own police stations are under attack. The army has pledged to rebuild the burnt churches, but the army cannot raise the dead. It can’t even prevent further attacks against Christians.

Why do the Islamists target Christians in the first place? Same reason the Islamists targeted Jews: they don’t fit with the Islamist vision of a Muslim Egypt.

The Christians do have advantages the Egyptian Jews didn’t. First, many Muslims don’t share the Brotherhood’s hatred of the Copts and some have even defended them against attacks. Second, the Egyptian government isn’t persecuting the Copts; they only have to fear mobs of Muslim Brotherhood terrorists.

On the other hand, Jews fleeing Egypt had Israel to flee to and the Israeli government to help them. Will any nation step up to help the Coptic Christians?

I don’t think so. I fear they’re on their own.

Algerian embassy in Cairo, formerly the home of Daniel Curiel from http://egy.com/judaica/

Note: For an account of a few other notable properties left behind by the Jews of Egypt and for much more information on the Jews ethnically cleansed from Arab lands, see the Point of No Return blog here.

Al-Quds Day in Toronto, a multicultural event celebrating the murder of both Jews and Palestinians

Al-Quds Day is often used to introduce children to antisemitism. This year, at Toronto's al-Qud's Day, this child gave a speech claiming that "Zionist thugs" are behind the Syrian revolution against dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Actually, the rebels are a mix of pro-democracy Syrians, Kurds, and al-Qaeda terrorists, none of whom much like Jews.

This year’s al-Quds Day rally in Toronto drew a lot of media attention because Elias Hazineh voiced his enthusiasm for killing Israelis. But what struck me most forcibly about this annual spectacle of antisemitism was the continued support for Hezbollah, a terrorist group which these days spends its time killing Syrians.

Of course, Elias Hazineh deserves attention because he’s a Liberal insider and an object lesson in the dangers of ethnic group politics. Hazineh was an aid to Liberal MP Caroline Parrish and he ran Liberal MP’s Omar Alghabra’s election campaign. He himself ran (and lost) to be the Ward 10 councillor in Mississauga.

Hazineh is also a former president of Palestine House, the political and cultural centre for Palestinians in the Toronto area. Last year, Palestine House had its funding cut off because of its support for extremism. (See here.)

This year, Hazineh was a featured speaker at the annual al-Quds Day rally at Queen’s Park. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established International al-Quds Day shortly after the Iranian revolution brought him to power in 1979. Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and Khomeini created the holiday to urge Muslims on in their efforts to take Jerusalem from the Jews and wipe Israel off the map.

In keeping with the spirit of al-Quds Day, at the Toronto rally, Hazineh suggested that Israelis live on stolen land, and rather than negotiate with Israelis, Palestinians should kill them.

“When somebody tries to rob a bank, the police get in,” said Hazineh. “They don’t negotiate. And we have been negotiating with them {Israelis} for 65 years. We say, ‘Get out or you are dead.’ We give them two minutes and then we start shooting, and that’s the only way they’ll understand.”

Other Liberals quickly condemned Hazineh. MP Carolyn Bennett tweeted: “We are all appalled by Hazineh remarks promoting violence & killing, at Al Quds rally.”

Liberal Justice critic Irwin Cotler tweeted: “Hazineh's remarks constitute clear incitement to hatred and violence – prohibited under Canadian law. Action warranted.”

And indeed because of his remarks, Hazineh is currently under investigation by the police. (See here.)

Hezbollah flags at 2013 al-Quds Day rally in Toronto

Hazineh should also be under investigation by the historians. Sixty-five years ago, the Palestinians and Arabs did not negotiate; rather than accept a compromise that would have given birth to a Palestinian state at the same time as Israel, they followed Hazineh’s advice and came in shooting, trying to kill the State of Israel at its birth. That worked out badly for them then and has ever since.

Calls for violence and extremist rhetoric is nothing new at al-Quds Day in Toronto. Because of the hate-filled speeches at previous years’ rallies, this year, the legislature’s sergeant-at-arms, banned the al-Quds group from holding their rally at Queen’s Park (see here). Unfortunately, they held it anyway.

As in previous years, participants were waving the flag of their heroes: the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. You might find this strange, as currently Hezbollah is helping the Syrian dictator to put down a revolt against his regime. To date, with Hezbollah’s help, the Syrian army has killed 100,000 civilians, plus a few rebel fighters.

Moreover, Syria is home to a million descendants of Palestinians displaced when the Arab armies came in shooting sixty-five years ago. Now half the Syrian Palestinians have become refugees, just like their grandparents were. On top of this, the Syrian army and their Hezbollah allies have killed about 500 Palestinians.

Indeed, the Syrian Palestinians are worse off than other Syrians, for Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan have all closed their borders to them. These countries continue to welcome other Syrian refugees, but they don’t want any more Palestinians.

Of course the leaders of the United Church and the Canadian Peace Alliance and the other usual suspects aren’t protesting this blatant and deadly discrimination. These groups love to protest against Israel, but in truth being against Israel is what they’re all about. They couldn’t care less about the Palestinians.

Still being indifferent is one thing. To be waving Hezbollah flags in the streets of Toronto while Hezbollah is busy murdering Syrians is quite another.

It’s a vivid reminder that Muslims and Christian Arabs have been the main victims of the seething hatreds and violence that grips too much of the Islamic world. To put things in perspective: more people have been killed in the past two years of civil war in Syria than in the past century of Jewish-Arab conflict over Israel’s existence. 


Note: The annual al-Quds Day rally in Toronto is sponsored by the Islamic Society of York Region. Back in 2008, this group actually sent me an invitation to help them celebrate the 29th anniversary of Iran's revolution. Naturally, I wrote about it ... here.

Anti-Semitism comes to Richmond Hill in celebration of Iran's Islamic Revolution

Ahmedinejad's Iran

I originally wrote this piece in February 2008 for the Jewish Tribune and for Engage, an anti-racism site published by British academics. It’s amazing how little has changed over the years…

February 14, 2008, I received a startling Valentine the other day: an emailed invitation to a lecture in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill – the topic: “Iran’s President Ahmedinejad: the embodiment of a Sincere Muslim.” 

Well, I know that President Ahmedinejad sincerely hates Jews, that he calls Israel a “filthy Zionist entity,” and that he’d like to “wipe it off the map.” But perhaps Ahmedinejad has a more pleasant side and the talk would concentrate on that – sort of like a lecture on Hitler’s vegetarianism. Or perhaps not. 

The Islamic Society of York Region was presenting the lecture as part of a conference to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution. 

Scheduled speakers included Imam Muhammad al-Asi of Washington D.C. Al-Asi is a Jew-hater and a research fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, a pro-Iranian, pro-Hezbollah think tank that publishes the Crescent International magazine. 

In a speech at the University of California at Irvine, Al-Asi said:

We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co-exist equally and brotherly with other human beings. You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew. And this has been demonstrated time and time again in Occupied Palestine. And now they have American diplomats and politicians and decision makers and strategists in their pocket because they have the money.

According to al-Asi Jews run the world. In an on-line article, al-Asi refers to the power of “the elders of zion” and claims that Jews “are in virtual command and control of the American and Russian administrations; not to mention their political and foreign policy clout in the European continent." 

But nonetheless al-Asi promises that the power of Allah will destroy “this zionist forgery,” “this Israeli atrocity.” Citing the prophet, al-Asi writes: “The Muslims will deal the deathblow to Yahud [the Jews]. These Yahud will hide behind timber and boulder that will call out on Muslims: 'O Muslim there is a Yahudi in disguise, come and annihilate him.” 

Whoa! It’s not every day you get to hear someone preach genocide. Well, not in Canada. In Ahmedinejad’s Iran, it’s government policy. 

{Now of course in 2013 Iran has a new supposedly more moderate president, but his inauguration featured the traditional chant of “Death to America! Death to England! Death to Israel!” (here). Doesn’t sound moderate to me.}

The Islamic Society of York Region was also sponsoring a panel discussion on Valentine’s Day, featuring one of al-Asi’s colleagues: Iqbal Siddiqui, editor of Crescent International in the UK. 

In January 2006, Siddiqui was one of the featured “experts” on a Holocaust-denial program aired on Iranian TV. The other two experts discussed “the myth of the gas chambers,” gave high marks to Hitler’s favourite propaganda tract, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and regarding Israel, stated: “The only solution for this cancerous tumour is surgery.” 

For his part, Siddiqui referred to the “supposed Holocaust,” and claimed: “The attitude of the Jews and the Zionists [is] that as a result of the suffering in Europe under Hitler, for the rest of history, the rest of the world owes them a living, and that they must be treated now as a special people, the chosen people, who are entitled to do whatever they like.” 

And what do the Jews like to do? According to Siddiqui, they like to act like Nazis and to inflict “acts of equal and equivalent evil on their part against the Palestinians." 

Charming fellow. He’s going to be on a panel with Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress. Elmasry once asserted on the Canadian TV program the Michael Coren Show that every adult Israeli is a legitimate target for terrorists. 

Muhammad al-Asi will also be paired with other local talent. A surprise guest was advertised as “a family member of the Toronto 18.” These are 18 people arrested in Toronto on terrorism charges. Until proven guilty, I presume the 18 were hoarding three tonnes of ammonium nitrate to fertilize their house plants, not for making bombs. 

Still, I think it’s odd to have a speaker whose only qualification is that one of his or her relatives was allegedly plotting to bomb public buildings in Canada and to storm Parliament and behead the prime minister. 

James Clark of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War was also on the speakers’ list. Last year, Clark and other members of the ironically named “Canadian peace movement” went to Cairo, Egypt, for a conference dedicated to “An International Alliance Against Imperialism and Zionism."

At the conference, the self-described “anti-imperialist left,” represented by people like Clark, and a representative of the Canadian Union of Public Employees met with terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Egyptian branch of al-Qaeda, Jamaat al-Islamiya. (See here.) 

The Reverend Karin Brothers will also speak in Richmond Hill. Rev. Brothers and a half-dozen other members of the United Church’s World Affairs Committee tried to get the UC to adopt an anti-Israel boycott resolution. Fortunately, though, the Church decided to try to encourage peace between Israel and the Palestinians, rather than taking the side of the terrorists. 

I don’t hold it against the United Church that they have a few fanatics in the fold. But maybe they should take their cue from the Islamic Center in Washington D.C. Al-Asi was once an Iman there, but in 1983 the center barred him from holding any position. Very sensible of them. After all what respectable church or mosque needs extremists like this around? 

As for me, I've declined my invitation to help celebrate the 29th anniversary of fascism in Iran. It’s Valentine’s Day. My wife and I can find something better to do. 

Afternote: In 2013, The Islamic Society of York Region remains as hateful as ever. It sponsors the annual al-Quds Day Rally in Toronto. After last year's hate-filled rally, they were banned from the grounds or the Ontario legislature. But this year, they gathered there anyway, calling for killing Israelis and waving the flag of the favourite terrorist group: Hezbollah. Even though, these days, Hezbollah is busy killing Palestinians. More here.

The one thing that has changed in the years since I wrote this article is that, sadly, in the United Church of Canada, antisemitism has moved from the fringes to become official church policy. More here. 

The Liberals deserve to lose

"If elected, I will burn through every dollar in Ontario."

Just a reminder: last election the Liberals decided to move two power plants in order to save a couple Liberal seats. This isn’t just the usual guff opposition parties make up about the government. Premier Wynne herself admits they moved those power plants for political reasons.  And it cost us $600 million.

 Today, the Liberals deserve to lose all five by-elections. If you vote Liberal, you’re just saying: rob me again.