Daniel Lubetzky

I have received about twenty forwards from proud Jewish friends about Israel’s humanitarian contributions to Haiti – most frequently this CNN video. It is sad how this humanitarian mission gets twisted by opponents (or extreme supporters) of Israel into a political issue.  Disregarding that noise and not connecting it to Mideast policies, a picture is clearly emerging that Israeli technology and services have been at the cutting edge in Haiti, as reported by TIME:

Eight hours later, they were still there waiting for treatment, but Loremas knew that his 18-year-old niece Richline was one of the lucky ones. Like his little sister, whom he had deposited at the same field hospital the day before, she would be getting the best care possible in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The Israeli hospital can treat only about 100 people a day, but it is the paramount medical center operating in Haiti in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake. It receives the cases that other hospitals find difficult and cannot manage. Upon entry, patients are photographed, and then they and their electronic records are digitally tracked around the tent complex with bar-coded bracelets. Ninety percent of those in Israeli hands have complex crushed limbs and bones — crush syndrome. But given the severity of the injuries and the conditions in apocalyptic Port-au-Prince, the hospital has had an amazing success rate: of the more than 400 people treated by Jan. 19, only eight had died.