Gaza blockade

My response to MJ Rosenberg's article "Lift Gaza blockade now" (http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/20100). This article is cleverly quotes Haaretz but is laced with bias and hearsay. He writes for "Media Matters Action Network" and writes some vile anti-Israel content.


Rosenberg,

Great article: http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/201001150001  (“Lift Gaza blockade now”).

If you are “correcting conservative misinformation” and “ensuring accuracy” and “providing a full range of resources” (as appears in your “about us” text), please correct the following misinformation and ensure its accuracy by providing a full range of sources for the following, quoted from your article:

“…the war it launched that took 1400 lives (mostly civilians, including 320 children)…”


Please provide your sources, because it looks like the only possible conclusions (pending your reply) are:

A. The majority of the casualties during Operation "Cast Lead" were militants.
B. "The Palestinian Center for Human Rights" (PCHR) blatantly lied and distorted the findings.

The PCHR (Palestinian Center for Human Rights) published very similar figures. Since then, Hamas has published their “martyrs”. You can find their names and photographs here:

http://www.hosem.org.il/Cast-Lead

Something is very wrong, I am afraid. Israeli reports, published immediately after the Operation, pretty much confirm this new info, yet you rely and publish old inaccurate figures. Surely this is considered misinformation. I hope you have not fallen into the Pallywood net. Please correct this urgently, it discredits your article and paints them with bias.

Another point to consider and correct:
Hamas publicly announced the end of the 26 week cease-fire. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak pleaded with Hamas not to resume indiscriminate rocket fire at Israeli civilians. Mubarak also blamed Hamas for the Operation which followed. The cease-fire did not end  "because Israel did not live up to its commitment to lift the blockade and continued, despite the cease-fire, to target and kill Hamas militants in Gaza".

I could go on, but prefer to allow you to make these corrections first.


Sincerely,


Laurence Seeff

SACH - Save a child's heart

I can personally identify with this organization.

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease and to create centers of competence in these countries. SACH is totally dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child's nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation. 

SACH is motivated by the age-old Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world. By mending the hearts of children, regardless of their origin, SACH is contributing to a better and more peaceful future for all of our children.

Since 1995, Save a Child's Heart (SACH) has treated more than 2,200 children suffering from congenital and rheumatic heart disease aging from infancy to 18 years of age from the “four corners of the Earth” -  36 countries where adequate medical care is unavailable.

40% of the children who underwent cardiac surgery are from Africa; 49% from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan & Iraq; 4% from Moldova, Russia and former USSR and 7% from China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The number of children treated by SACH has grown dramatically from 48 cases in 1996 to over 200 in 2008.

http://www.saveachildsheart.org/

Israel: Harvesting organs in Haiti

Amid talk that Israel sent medical teams to Haiti with cynical motives, among others, to harvest organs and capitalize on the earthquake tragedy, here are a number of links that advocate the humanitarian work that keeps IsraelProud:







Videos:

1. Low supplies, many injured - abcNews
2. Israeli hospitals in Haiti - CNN Report
3. IDF Search & Rescue Team Saves Trapped Man - IDF Spokesperson's Unit
4. Makeshift ICU saving lives in Haiti - Fox News

Articles:

1. Israel's field hospital - Haaretz newspaper
2. Israel: sending soldiers of peace to Haiti - Los Angeles Times

Israeli government sources have said that the hospital includes 10 tons of medical equipment, 40 doctors, 24 nurses, medics, paramedics, x-ray equipment, a pharmacy, an emergency room, two surgery rooms, an incubation ward, a children’s and maternity ward.

Update:
I have seen some published texts that claim that Israel might have caused the earthquake in order to distract world attention away from the Apartheid and genocide carried out in Israel.

The Peace Activist

This letter was written in response to an article written by a self-proclaimed "peace activist".
I suggest reading this individual’s article first at: gilasvirsky.com/godbliss.html to pick up the thread.

Dear Gila,

I stumbled onto your article “God Bliss” through a link from a website that recommended reading your article.
I read the article.

I also read about your commendable commitment, devotion and activities to bring peace into this troubled area. I respect all those who are concerned with making the world a better place and take the time and effort to do so, ultimately contributing to bringing about positive change for our generation and those to follow.

However, your article troubles me deeply, perhaps as deeply as your contempt for those who turn a blind eye to the hardships of the Palestinian populations in Gaza and the West Bank. It troubles me fivefold.

Hamas does not target civilians?

Hamas claims that they did not intentionally target Israeli civilians before "Operation Cast Lead",  but military targets only.

In an exceptionally unusual report, the BBC2 screened footage (Newsnight 19.01.10) of Gulf War veteran Colonel Tim Collins' trip to Gaza for a soldier's view of the conflict. 

A summary of his report can be seen here thanks to Conflictzones.tv.


Below is a snapshot from the video footage showing rockets targeting Sderot, a civilian town in Israel. This is a Hamas billboard poster, not Israeli. Does this look like a military target?

 

The full BBC2 video report can be found here.

A letter to EAPPI

A letter to a church organization that apparently has a just cause. The unwary reader might be fooled by the humanitarian wrapping on this disguised anti-Israel website. The organization's vision, quoted from the website: 

"The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) seeks to support local and international efforts to end the Israeli occupation and bring a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a just peace, based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions".

My letter:

Dear Sirs,

I would like to join your wonderful organization after reading about it on the official EAPPI website (http://www.eappi.org/en/about/overview.html).