Compiled and edited by Jon Sutz

Preface: The strange intersection of Israel’s humanitarian benevolence, “ET The Extra-Terrestrial,” and ILoveIsrael’s core philosophy

(1) Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly provided life-saving medical treatment to citizens of neighboring nations, many of which are sworn to its destruction — even the families of terrorist gang leaders

(2) When Israel is forced to defend itself, the IDF goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid causing any harm to non-combatants — even placing its own soldiers at risk to do so

(3) The IDF’s benevolence towards non-combatants is rooted in the core principles that its recruits and officers are taught from day one, and which are are reinforced regularly

(4) Israel’s development of defensive weaponry that minimizes the chance of collateral damage

(5) Israel & the IDF regularly rush to help others in far-away lands, in the wake of natural & human-caused disasters

(6) Other facets of Israel’s generosity

Preface: The strange intersection of Israel’s humanitarian benevolence, “ET The Extra-Terrestrial,” and ILoveIsrael’s core philosophy

Contained on the 35th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of “ET: The Extra Terrestrial” are a fascinating array of extras, regarding the making of the movie, behind-the-scenes stories, and interviews with the actors and filmmakers.

One segment of these extras that jumped out at me was an interview with the screenwriter that Steven Spielberg entrusted to flush out his idea for the film, Melissa Mathison, who commented on some research she did pertaining to the design and development of ET, the character:

“I asked kids what superpower they would want, either to have themselves, or for this man from outer space to have, and ‘healing’ came up a lot; if he could take care of ‘hurts’…. and their affinity was to plant life…”

I found this to be a profound insight, not only because Israel turned the desert into a hyper-efficient garden of agricultural abundance, but primarily for the three reasons below, and decided to do a low-brow phone video recording of this 47-second segment:

Here are the three reasons I found this insight to be so profound, and so pertinent to my ILoveIsrael project:

(1) There is no nation that is more committed to healing “hurts” than Israel.

Despite its being a mere speck of the Earth’s land mass, and population, as presented in Sections 1, 5 and 6 on this page, Israel is often first on the scene to help those with “hurts,” no matter where they are or what they’ve suffered – even those in Gaza and the Palestinian-governed regions. This is in addition to Israel’s amazing culture of medical and health science innovation.

(2) I estimate that 98%+ of the children throughout the world who wish to heal the world’s “hurts,” and greatly respect those who work to do so, have no idea of what Israel does, consistently and gladly, in this realm. This makes them primed and vulnerable to be seduced by anti-Israel propaganda (which many if not most have now been).

For those who doubt me, take a look at the research I compiled about how international surveys reveal general populations, including the young, perceive of Israel. There is no possible way these numbers could exist in 2022 and recent years, if there were serious, sustained efforts to inform the world — particularly the young — of the reality of Israel. A slide show summary of my research:

I Love Israel: Surveys Concerning Israel & Jews from JonSutz1

(3) Until and unless a 21st-century resource emerges that is designed from the ground up to bridge this gap, and enable Israel’s most serious champions and defenders to communicate with general audiences — particularly the young — in terms that they can understand, easily verify, relate to their own lives, and instantly share, this tragedy is only going to get worse.

Needless to say, this represents a massive departure from existing approaches, which almost invariably involve “preaching to the choir”; that is, those who are already supportive of Israel, because they know the reality. Yet in this model, virtually no one outside “the choir” even knows who they are, what they believe, or why — because they neither see nor hear any of this messaging.

Not only do these broader audiences need to be targeted, both online and in real life, but approached with all the esprit de corps that comes with being morally certain one is right, just how the anti-Israel propaganda machine operates, even though it is based on lies. This efort requires information warriors who proudly stand with such a noble, generous nation, that is so committed to healing “hurts,” should exude in every facet of their existence and activism — and to provide these information warriors with world-class knowledge tools that can be summoned at a moment’s notice that prove their assertions, with irrefutable evidence.

I created ILoveIsrael to serve as the ultimate, encyclopedic toolbox for serious champions and defenders of Israel, especially for resources that show how she helps to heal the world’s “hurts.” And further, that this activity is an outgrowth of Israel’s core ethos, the operational DNA of the Israeli psyche: that each of us can learn to heal “hurts,” and that to the degree we each are capable, we should work to learn how to do this.This was the driving mission behind my year-long development of my mini-documentary about ILoveIsrael.

I also believe that the young girl who so eloquently summed up Israel’s ethos in this regard, and who paid with her life for the hatred and envy of that ethos, should be directly connected and widely known:

(1) Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly provided life-saving medical treatment to citizens of neighboring nations, many of which are sworn to its destruction — even the families of terrorist gang leaders

(1)(a) Aid to Syrians (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and others)

(1)(b) Aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories — including the families of terrorist leaders with Hamas, Fatah & Palestinian Islamic Jihad

(1)(c) Aid to Lebanese (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as Hezbollah and Hamas)

(1)(a) Aid to Syrians (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and others)

Emergency surgery in Israel saves life of premature Syrian baby, by Ma’ayan Peleg Aviram, YNet, November 8, 2022. Excerpt:

Two-week old Johnny Yusuf is one of triplets born to a Syrian refugee family living in Cyprus. Weighing a mere one and half kilograms (3.3 lbs) at birth, he was diagnosed with a life threatening congestive heart defect and required an emergency operation to save his life, one unavailable at Cyprus hospitals.

As his situation worsened, the Cypriot Health Minisrty contacted Professor Einat Birk, the director of The Institute of Cardiology at Schneider Children’s Medical Center Petah Tikva, who recommended he’d be flown for treatment to Israel immediately.
Since the baby was a Syrian national, his flight to Israel required the intervention of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Cyprus in order to obtain the necessary permits.

Professor Gil Klinger, the director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital, flew to Cyprus along with his team and the medical equipment necessary to transfer the baby safely. The baby’s 21-year-old brother, Aref, traveled with him.

Johnny and brother Aref (Photo: Schneider Children’s Medical Center)

IDF allows first peek into secret Golan Heights field hospital, by Yifa Yaakov, Times of Israel, February 1, 2014. Excerpt:

Facility has treated 700 Syrians, from children to old men, breaking down stereotypes about ‘the Zionists’ as clashes continue across the fence.

The Israeli military allowed cameras into a secret field hospital on the Syrian border for the first time.

On Friday evening, Channel 2 News aired footage of the fenced Golan Heights facility, which has treated over 700 Syrian patients since it was established less than a year ago.

The hospital, staffed by soldiers in uniform, includes an emergency room, an intensive care unit, an operating theater, a mobile laboratory, a pharmacy and an x-ray facility. It treats Syrian patients who cross the border regardless of creed – or of where their loyalties lie.

The once-sporadic treatment of Syrian nationals in Israel has, by now, become routine, the report made clear: the wounded cross the border, and IDF medical teams deployed in the Golan Heights give them preliminary treatment. Those who are well enough are sent back across the border, and those who require further treatment are evacuated to the military hospital, a field commander at the facility told Channel 2. In this way, the hospital treats about a hundred Syrians per month.

Maj. Itay Zoarets, a senior surgeon, described the situation as “surreal.”

He said that while soldiers and commanders in the IDF’s medical corps underwent rigorous training to learn how to treat battle wounds, the Israeli military hadn’t encountered such injuries since the last big wars.

Israeli soldiers escort a wounded Syrian patient into a secret military field hospital in the Golan Heights. (photo credit: screen capture, Channel 2)

Operation Good Neighbor: Israel reveals its massive humanitarian aid to Syria, by Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel, July 19, 2017. Excerpt:

Detailing its outreach for the first time, officers say the IDF is building clinics inside its war-torn neighbor and treating sick children in Israel; hundreds of tons of food, medicine and fuel sent to ravaged border towns.

GOLAN HEIGHTS – The Israeli military on Wednesday unveiled the scope of its humanitarian assistance in Syria that has dramatically mushroomed over the last year to include treating chronically ill children who have no access to hospitals, building clinics in Syria, and supplying hundreds of tons of food, medicines and clothes to war-ravaged villages across the border.

In this undated photo provided on July 19, 2017, an IDF soldier feeds a Syrian baby in Israel as part of the army’s humanitarian aid program to assist Syrians impacted by the civil war in their country. (Israel Defense Forces)

Since Syria disintegrated in a brutal civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, Israel has struggled with how to deal with the humanitarian disaster taking place just across the border, a dilemma made even more complicated by the fact that Israel and Syria remain officially at war.

Israel initially responded by providing medical treatment to Syrians wounded in the war, treating more than 3,000 people in field hospitals on the border and in public hospitals, mostly in northern Israel since 2013.

But on Wednesday the army revealed that since June 2016 it has quietly been working on Operation Good Neighbor, a massive multi-faceted humanitarian relief operation to keep starvation away from the thousands of Syrians who live along the border and provide basic medical treatment to those who cannot access it in Syria because of the war.

In the year since the operation was launched, over 600 Syrian children, accompanied by their mothers, have come to Israel for treatment. Hundreds of tons of food, medical equipment and clothing have also been sent across the border to Syria, clearly bearing Hebrew labels from Israeli companies.

Operation Good Neighbor: Syrian Thanks Israel for Saving her Life, by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller, AISH, Jan 11, 2020. Excerpt:

Noam Shalev, an Israeli film producer, was recently vacationing in Sweden. While eating in a restaurant in Stockholm, he was served dinner by a young Arab waitress. When it was time to pay his bill, Shalev handed over his Israeli credit card – and his waitress went into shock, dropping the card on the floor, trembling and starting to cry.

“Where are you from?” she asked tearfully, looking at the Hebrew writing on the credit card.

Afraid that his waitress was anti-Semitic, Mr. Shalev started to put on his coat, ready to exit the restaurant quickly. When he answered that he was from Israel, the waitress composed herself. She was from Syria, she explained, and had never met an Israeli. Yet she owed Israel a huge debt of gratitude and wanted to thank her Israeli customer.

Several years ago, back in Syria, the waitress’ mother was gravely ill and lay on her deathbed. An Israeli humanitarian program, Operation Good Neighbor, brought her mother to Israel for medical treatment; after three weeks in a hospital in the northern Israeli city of Safed, her mother recovered. The mother returned home to Syria, and the entire family eventually fled from Syria’s brutal civil war and found asylum in Sweden.

One of the people who read the post was Lt. Col. (Res.) Eyal Dror, the commanding officer of Israel’s Operation Good Neighbor, which coordinated the aid that brought the waitress’ mother – and thousands of other Syrian civilians like her – to Israel for life-saving medical treatment. In an Aish.com exclusive interview, Lt. Col. Dror explained that when he read the story, he realized it meant that Syrians aided by the Jewish state “are not forgetting the State of Israel when we saved their lives. What we’ve done continues to be important and remembered,” shaping perceptions of Israel in parts of the Arab world and beyond.

Lt. Col. Eyal Dror, commander of Operation Good Neighbor

VIDEO: World Jewish Congress interview with Lt. Col. (R) Eyal Dror regarding Operation Good Neighbor, in which IDF provided critical aid to Syria

This interview occurred in January 2019:

Why Israel is saving Syrian rebels, by Terry Glavin, Macleans, June 20, 2017. Excerpt:

‘All my life I was told Israel is my enemy. But only Israel is our friend,’ says one fighter from a hospital in Tzfat.

On a hospital bed at the Ziv Medical Center, high in the Upper Galilee Mountains, a Syrian rebel who goes by the name Ramadan was still wincing in pain from a bullet that had torn through his right shoulder only 10 days before. But he said there was something important he wanted to tell me. The gruff-voiced, barrel-chested fighter sat up on his hospital bed and began.

“All the world is killing us, all the world,” he said. “All my life I was told Israel is my enemy. I grew up like that, to believe that Israel is the devil. But all the world is against us, and only Israel is our friend. The world is killing us. Israel is saving us.”

How it came to pass that Ramadan ended up in an Israeli hospital in a picturesque mountaintop city said to have been founded by Shem, the son of Noah, is straightforward enough, even with some of the details necessarily left out—Ramadan’s real name, for instance, and the name of his home village, where his worried wife and two sons were waiting for him to come home.

“I am a fighter for the Free Syrian Army. I was in a battle to protect my village from soldiers of Bashar Assad. They were attacking us,” Ramadan said. In the fighting, he was hit by a round fired from an MG3 machine gun. It tore open his upper arm and shredded his shoulder. The FSA unit won the battle. “My village is still free,” Ramadan said. But he’d been severely wounded. He could have bled to death.

“One of my team had a friend from a village near the Israeli border, so they took me there right away. They put me on a donkey. The donkey carried me up to the Israeli border. And then the Israeli soldiers brought me here.”

Israeli Doctors Save Young Syrian Refugee Child With Heart Defect, Mother Thanks Israel, by Jewish National News, August 19, 2019. Excerpt:

Israeli doctors at a Jerusalem hospital have saved a one-and-a-half-year-old Syrian toddler with a heart defect whose parents fled with him from the carnage of their country’s civil war.

The child’s mother — identified only as L. — told Israeli news website Mako on Saturday that she and her husband knew their son was ill very early.

“He looked small for his age and very thin,” she said. “I felt something was wrong. He seemed to be in pain all the time, crying, uneasy, especially when he was asleep.”

A doctor later told her that her son was suffering from a serious congenital heart problem. He was hospitalized eight times in Syria and regularly medicated. L. later went to Jordan with her husband, but doctors there told her there was no surgical option.

Israeli doctor treating Syrians hopes to save hearts and win minds, by Eric Cortellessa, Times of Israel, August 18, 2019. Excerpt:

In 2013, Salman Zarka, then head of IDF medical corps in the north, sent injured Syrians who came to Israel’s border to a Safed hospital. Now, he’s running it.

For Israeli soldiers guarding the country’s northern border, Shabbat morning is often, though not always, quite placid, even with a raging civil war unfolding miles away.

The Israel Defense Forces have naturally been vigilant to keep the Syrian conflict from bleeding into Israel, especially over the last year as Iran has sought to entrench itself in the beleaguered Arab state. But more often than not, it hasn’t been Syrians with weapons who head toward Israel’s borders: it has been Syrians with injuries.

That came to the fore on a fateful morning in February 2013, when seven Syrians arrived at the Israeli border in need of serious medical attention. The medics there provided them with care, but it soon became clear that this would not be enough to save their lives.

Dr. Salman Zarka, director of the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, speaks with a Syrian girl to whom he gave treatment (Courtesy).

Haifa hospital’s pioneering treatment lets Syrian war victim eat, speak again; Titanium jaw created by Israeli dental tech firm on Israeli-developed 3D printer, by David Shamah, Times of Israel, January 11, 2015. Excerpt:

Over the past several years, Israeli hospitals have treated hundreds of victims of the Syrian civil war, but a procedure conducted on a Syrian patient last week at Rambam Hospital in Haifa was easily the most ambitious the institution has ever attempted, according to the hospital.

Prof Adi Rachmiel (L.) and Dr Yoav Leiser (R.) with the Syrian patient (Photo credit: RHCC)

The patient, who sustained severe injuries as a result of fighting on the Syrian side of the Golan border, was brought by the Israeli army to the hospital for treatment. The patient’s lower jaw was completely destroyed as the result of a bullet wound. The man, in critical condition, was unable to eat or to even speak.

The hospital decided on a novel approach to help the patient: Prof. Adi Rachmiel, director of Rambam’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, along with Dr. Yoav Leiser, who recently underwent training in Germany, contacted an Ashdod-based company called AB Dental, one of the world’s biggest makers and distributors of advanced dental implants.

While most of AB Dental’s products are traditional plates and screws used for implants, the company also has a 3D printer made by Stratasys, a joint US-Israel 3D printing technology company (AB Dental bought its first printer in 2012, when the Israeli side of the company was still called Objet), and it was on a 3D printer the company printed out a custom-made jaw for Rambam’s Syrian patient.

Israeli doctor treating Syrians says snipers deliberately shoot children in the spine, by Inna Lazareva, Telegraph (UK), March 14, 2014. Excerpt:

Doctor makes claim after UN report shows child casualty rates in Syria are the highest recorded in any recent conflict in the region.

A senior Israeli doctor treating child victims of the Syrian civil war has said that snipers in the war-town country are aiming for the spine to cause maximum trauma.

Dr Yoav Hoffman, a doctor at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, is one of many doctors who has been treating severely wounded Syrians at the Western Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya, northern Israel.

Having examined the patients, 40 per cent of whom have been women and children, he came to a disturbing conclusion.

“I am sure that the snipers hit the spine on purpose,” he said this week after noticing the same gunshot wound “at this very same point” several times in the children he had treated.

At least five of the children were left partially or fully paralysed as a result of the injuries.

“You know by the hit it was by a sniper and it was on purpose,” he said.

“If you want to kill a man, or you want to kill a child, you put a bullet in his head or his heart. They purposefully put the bullet in the lumber [lower] spine so that the child would suffer. I don’t have any other explanation. It was cruel. I almost cried when I saw it,” he said.

Others at the hospital have made similar observations.

“We have young children right now who have been shot in the head or suffered blast injuries, at a very young age. It’s very difficult to understand how this can happen, that a child is shot from a very close distance,” said Prof Jean Soustiel, Director of Neurosurgical Department at the hospital.

This is not the first time that claims about deliberate targeting of children in Syria have been made.

A Syrian boy on a wheelchair in Qah refugee camp. A UN report notes child casualty rates in Syria are the highest recorded Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP

Israel wins widespread praise for role in rescue of Syria’s White Helmets, Times of Israel, July 22, 2018. Excerpt:

UK foreign secretary thanks Israel and Jordan for helping evacuate hundreds of the civil defense workers, who will be taken in by Western countries.

Israel earned plaudits on Sunday for helping to evacuate hundreds of Syrian civil defense workers from southern Syria to Jordan overnight at the request of Western countries.

Founded in 2013, the Syria Civil Defense, or White Helmets, is a network of first responders who rescue wounded in the aftermath of airstrikes, shelling or explosions in rebel-held territory.

The IDF took them from Syria and escorted them through Israel to Jordan. Jordan said 800 White Helmets rescuers and their families had been authorized to enter into the country and would eventually be taken in by Britain, Germany and Canada. Jordan later said a total of 422 had actually made the trip.

“Fantastic news that we – UK and friends – have secured evacuation of White Helmets and their families – thank you Israel and Jordan for acting so quickly on our request,” UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote on his Twitter account.

“The [White Helmets] are the bravest of the brave and in a desperate situation this is at least one ray of hope,” added Hunt.

Niels Annen, a minister of state at Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, also praised Israel for the evacuation mission.

Thank you, Israel ?? for helping to save @SyriaCivilDef @JIssacharoff https://t.co/TO1JS2Uda9

— Niels Annen ?? (@NielsAnnen) July 22, 2018

Saving their sworn enemy: Heartstopping footage shows Israeli commandos rescuing wounded men from Syrian warzone – but WHY are they risking their lives for Islamic militants?, by Jake Wallis Simons, Daily Mail (UK), December 8, 2015; Updated February 7, 2017. Excerpt:

Under cover of darkness, an Israeli armoured car advances down the potholed road that leads to Syria. As it crests a small hill, the driver picks up the radio handset and tells his commanding officer that the border is in sight.

He kills the engine. Ten heavily-armed commandos jump out and take cover, watching for signs of ambush. Then five of them move up to the 12ft chainlink fence that marks the limit of Israeli-held territory.

On the other side, on the very edge of Syria, lies an unconscious man wrapped like a doll in a blood-drenched duvet. The commandos unlock the fence, open a section of it and drag him onto Israeli soil.

But this wounded man is not an Israeli soldier, or even an Israeli citizen. He is an Islamic militant. And his rescue forms part of an extraordinary mission that is fraught with danger and has provoked deep controversy on all sides.

MailOnline has gained unprecedented access to this secretive and hazardous operation, embedding with the commandos to obtain exclusive footage, and interviewing the medics who are obliged to treat Syrian militants, some of whom openly admit that they intend to kill Israelis.

Inside the Hospital Where Israeli Doctors Treat Syrian Patients, by Sara Elizabeth Williams, VICE, July 25 2015. Excerpt:

VICE News visited Ziv Medical Center, a hospital just west of the Golan Heights, where injured Syrians cross the border to receive medical care with no questions asked.

The attack last month by a group of Israel’s Druze minority on wounded Syrians traveling in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ambulance to a hospital in the Golan Heights has drawn attention to Israel’s practice of offering medical care to Syrian militants. But it’s not just rebels who are being treated.

In nearly two and a half years, around 2,000 Syrians have been admitted to Israeli hospitals. While the vast majority are male — up to 90 percent at Ziv, the hospital closest to the border — there are women, too, and 17 percent of all patients are children.

There are the very old, and the very new: At least 10 Syrian babies have been born at Ziv alone since Syrians began arriving in February 2013.

Word has spread that Syrians can access medical help over the border from people they’ve long believed are the enemy. Medics say more patients, and less urgent cases, are filling the beds of publicly-funded Israeli hospitals. As these patients flow in, questions are being raised about the ethics of filling a hospital’s limited beds with Syrians — and how comfortable Israelis are helping their old enemy so close to home.

Ziv Medical Center in the mountain city of Safed, just west of the Golan Heights, is the first port of call for most patients who come through the border fence near the devastated Syrian city of Quneitra. With 331 beds and seven operating theatres, Ziv is modern, well-equipped, and only 40 minutes from the border in a fast-moving IDF ambulance.

Ziv has been treating Syrians since the night of February 16, 2013, when a convoy of IDF ambulances unloaded seven wounded Syrians in the emergency room. Trauma nurse David Fuchs said he and his colleagues were shocked but quickly adjusted.

7,000 Syrians were treated in military clinics and another 5,000 in civilian hospitals under Operation Good Neighbor – and it helped secure Israel’s borders, by Brian Schrauger, Jerusalem Post, February 18, 2020. Excerpt:

An unusual tourist arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport in January. When the border patrol agent there took his Netherlands passport, it only took a glance at Emeth’s olive skin and Persian features to see that he was not a native Dutchman. His place of birth? According to the passport, Tehran.

Asked to step aside, he was taken to a room and asked to wait. Four hours later, agents returned with questions.

Presumably they had done a thorough background check. What did they learn?

Emeth (a pseudonym) gave me some idea when he sat down to tell his story while at a conference in the Galilion Hotel and Conference Center just north of the Hula Nature Reserve in the Upper Galilee. When our conversation ended an hour later, I was stunned.

The conference was a Christian confab called the Maranatha Alliance. I went to the gathering to learn about a nonprofit called Frontier Alliance International (FAI). The group is intriguing because, during the last two and a half years of the Syrian civil war, the Israel Defense Forces partnered with this small Evangelical organization to provide humanitarian relief to enemies of the Jewish state.

Aid that was provided by Israel – including tons of food and clothing, more than a million liters of fuel, electric generators, tents, vehicles, diapers, baby food, medical equipment and medications – had to find its way into Syrian border villages. Where the IDF could not go, foreign volunteers to FAI did. Acting as proxies for Jerusalem, they provided medical aid from Israel for its enemies behind enemy lines. At the same time, medical refugees from Syria were welcomed into Israel for medical care in Israeli clinics and hospitals by Israeli doctors and nurses.

It was called Operation Good Neighbor and it was a military endeavor. When it officially concluded in September 2018, some 7,000 Syrians were treated in military clinics and another 5,000 in civilian hospitals.

(1)(b) Aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories — including the families of terrorist leaders with Hamas, Fatah & Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Hadassah surgeons reattach boy’s head to his neck after internal decapitation, Times of Israel, July 5, 2023. Excerpt:

In an extremely rare and complex operation, Hadassah Medical Center surgeons have reattached a 12-year-old boy’s head to his neck after a serious accident in which he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, the Jerusalem hospital announced on Wednesday.

Suleiman Hassan, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was airlifted to Hadassah hospital’s trauma unit in Ein Kerem, where it was determined that the ligaments holding the posterior base of his skull were severely damaged, leaving it detached from the top vertebrae of his spine. The condition, bilateral atlanto occipital joint dislocation, is commonly known as internal or orthopedic decapitation.

The injury is very rare in adults, and even more so in children.

“We fought for the boy’s life,” said Dr. Ohad Einav, the orthopedic specialist who operated on the patient together with Dr. Ziv Asa and a large operating room and intensive care team. The surgery was carried out in early June.

Dr. Ohad Einav and Ziv Asa with 12-year-old Suleiman Hassan at Hadassah Medical Center following his recovery after surgery to reattach his head to his neck after he suffered internal decapitation in an accident. (Courtesy of Hadassah Medical Center)

3,000th Palestinian child has heart operation in Israel through Save a Child’s Heart, Times of Israel, November 2022. Excerpt:

A 5-year-old boy from Gaza was brought on Sunday to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, where Israeli doctors performed open-heart surgery to save his life, making him the 3,000th child from the Palestinian territories to undergo such surgery in Israel as part of an Israeli NGO’s program.

Amir Yichya Mabchuch from Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City, was brought by Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli NGO that, since its foundation in 1995, has helped more than 6,000 children travel from abroad with their families for the critical operations.

The children have hailed from over 65 countries, most of which are in the developing world, and many of which have no diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. […]

The operation that 5-year-old Amir received was complicated, requiring advanced technology that was unavailable in Gaza — and the surgery went off without a hitch, according to surgeon Hagi Dekel.

“The surgery was carried out in order to remove an obstruction in the left ventricle. Such an obstruction, if left untreated, can damage the valve, and in the worst-case scenario, cause sudden death…The aortic valve was opened, and the thick tissue obstructing the valve was successfully removed,” he said.

Gaza boy, 11, becomes 6,000th child saved by Israeli humanitarian group, by Israel Hayom, December 13, 2021. Excerpt:

An 11-year-old boy from the Gaza Strip, Mazen, this month became the 6,000th child saved by the Israeli humanitarian organization Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) with support from the German foundation BILD hilft e.V. Ein Herz für Kinder.

Shortly after Mazen was born, doctors in Gaza diagnosed him with a complicated congenital heart condition that would require multiple medical procedures. As Mazen grew older, he suffered difficulty breathing. To survive, he needed emergency surgery.

There are no centers for interventional cardiac treatment in the Gaza Strip, and the caseload of patients in critical condition has worsened under the COVID pandemic. […]

In Israel, Mazen was treated at the SACH International Pediatric Cardiac Care Center at the new Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital at Wolfson Medical Center. Upon arrival, Mazen was examined by Dr. Alona Raucher Sternfeld, director of Pediatric Cardiology, and then treated in the center’s catheterization lab by Dr. Sagi Assa, aead of the Interventional Pediatric Cardiac Care Unit.

Assa and his team are pioneering the use of closure devices that enable complex cardiac catheterization procedures to close holes in hearts without any need for open heart surgery. The SACH center and the Pediatric Cardiac Care Center are the only medical institutions in the region currently using this technique on cases such as Mazen’s.

11-year-old Mazen from Gaza and Dr. Sagi Assa who performed his life-saving catheterization (Photo credit: SAHC)

Complex surgery at Rambam hospital saves life of 7-year-old Gaza boy, by Times of Israel, April 18, 2021. Excerpt:

Doctors at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa performed a complex surgery that managed to save the life of a 7-year-old boy from Gaza, the hospital says in a press statement.

The boy, Madchat Tapash was born with a defect in his renal system that caused life-threatening kidney failure and an improperly functioning bladder, requiring a multidisciplinary team of specialists to repair the damage. Madchat had already undergone 15 surgeries and dozens of procedures during his short life.

“The operation consisted of three different surgeries conducted almost simultaneously, the hospital says, “in which the boy’s bladder was reconstructed, a kidney donated by his mother was removed from her body and implanted in his body, and, finally, Madchat’s new kidney was successfully connected to his reconstructed bladder.”

The recent operation lasted 11 hours.

Madchat Tapash, after heart surgery. (Rambam Health Care Campus)

Israeli NGO performs 5,555th lifesaving surgery on Palestinian toddler; “I was sure that my son was sick, that if he had access to the right treatment he could be healed,” the child’s mother said, by Zachary Keyser, Jerusalem Post, November 8, 2020. Excerpt:

Israeli humanitarian NGO Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) performed its 5,555th lifesaving procedure last Sunday, with some 50% of those procedures dedicated to treating Palestinian patients.

For its 5,555th procedure, the NGO treated a five-month-old Palestinian boy from Gaza, Mahmad, who – at two weeks of age – was brought to a local hospital after he started experiencing breathing issues, while separately being unable to gain weight – suffering from a life-threatening heart defect.

“I was sure that my son was sick, that if he had access to the right treatment he could be healed,” his mother said.

The family was made aware of the SACH program by pediatric cardiologist Dr. Abdelrahim Azab, who is a trained partner of SACH. SACH not only brings children from the Palestinian territories and abroad to Israel for lifesaving treatments, it also trains doctors within these regions to perform the surgeries locally – who learn directly from Israeli health experts.

Mahmad seen pictured at Wolfson Medical Center after receiving treatment (photo credit: SACH, via Jerusalem Post)

Israeli hospital helps deaf Palestinian children hear for first time; Jerusalem medical center carries out 16 cochlear implant surgeries as part of Peres Center for Peace project, by Times of Israel, February 19, 2017. Excerpt:

Sixteen deaf Palestinian children were able to hear for the first time after undergoing a procedure at an Israeli hospital to repair their hearing, Hebrew media reported Saturday.

The operations to repair the children’s hearing, known as cochlear implant surgery, were performed by doctors at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem over the course of the past several months, according to the Ynet news website.

The last six surgeries took place over the course of just a few days.

Dr. Michal Kaufmann, who performed the surgeries, told Ynet that being able to perform the operations was quite difficult due to the “logistical challenge[s].”

“Many authorizations were required from the Defense Ministry,” she said, adding that “some of the children arrived without a medical record and required extensive tests at Hadassah alongside emotional and psychological treatment.”

See a video report on this program here.

Hamas leader’s daughter treated in Israeli hospital, by Robert Tait, The Telegraph (UK), October 20, 2014. Excerpt:

The daughter of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, has undergone treatment at an Israeli hospital, just weeks after a 50-day war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement that left more than 2,000 people dead.

She was transported to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv as an emergency case after suffering complications from a procedure originally carried out in Gaza, the coastal enclave whose hospitals came under severe strain due to the deluge of casualties admitted during the summer’s conflict.

The identity of the daughter – one of Mr Haniyeh’s 13 children – has not been revealed, nor have details of her condition been disclosed.

Her admission suggests that humanitarian cooperation between Israel and the Gaza authorities continues despite the bitterness left by the hostilities, which ended on August 26 after both parties accepted the terms of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

Editor Note: Per The Hamas Covenant, the terrorist group is sworn not just to the destruction of Israel, but the extermination of all Jews. More here, here and here. And yet year in and year out, Israel provides medical care to its rulers, and their families.

Despite Rocket Attacks, 23 Palestinians, Including Eight Gazan Children, Are Undergoing Treatment in Israeli Hospitals, by Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency (via The Algemeiner), July 11, 2014. Excerpt:

Despite ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza leaving most of Israel’s population under threat, the Jewish state’s Rambam Health Care Campus is currently treating a number of Gazan patients including three adults and eight children, and three adults and two children from the Palestinian Authority.

In addition, Haifa hospital is hosting seven patients from the PA for treatment in outpatient clinics, and additional patients from Gaza are scheduled for treatments later this week.

According to Yazid Falah, the coordinator for Palestinian patients coming to Rambam, “Despite the security situation, and despite the fact that both sides are fighting, all continues as usual in the realm of medical cooperation. Even in times of war we continue to receive patients and give them the care they need – children and adults.”

Mahmoud Abbas’s wife undergoes surgery in Israel; Doctors operate on Palestinian leader’s spouse over the weekend at medical center near Tel Aviv, by Stuart Winer, Times Of Israel, June 15, 2014. Excerpt:

Doctors in Israel performed surgery on Amina Abbas, the wife of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, at a private clinic near Tel Aviv over the weekend, as tensions between Israel and the PA mounted over the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian terrorists.

The operation on Abbas’s leg was performed on Friday, and she was released on Sunday.

Abbas was hospitalized at the Assuta Medical Center in Ramat Hachayal, near Tel Aviv. Her stay in a private room at the clinic was kept under wraps and security guards were stationed to maintain her privacy round the clock. Other patients were unaware of the identity of the VIP in the private room and Hebrew media said hospital staff members were evasive when questioned.

The three teenagers — Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frenkel, 19 — were abducted on Thursday night in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he holds Abbas’s Palestinian Authority responsible for their well-being.

Israeli nurse breastfeeds Palestinian baby boy after his mom critically injured, by Rachel Paula Abrahamson, TODAY (NBC), June 7, 2017. Excerpt:

An Israeli nurse and a Palestinian family worked together to soothe an inconsolable baby boy.

On June 2, Yamen, a 9-month-old from Hebron, was rushed to the emergency room at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem. The infant’s parents had been involved in a horrific collision with a bus in the West Bank, which left his father dead and his mother with a critical head injury. Yamen, who was restrained in his car seat at the time of the accident, survived with only minor injuries — and he was hungry.

When nurse Ola Ostrowski-Zak arrived at the hospital for her night shift in the emergency room, Yamen’s frantic aunts pulled her aside. The exclusively breastfed child had been crying for seven hours while refusing to take bottle and they wanted to know if Ostrowski-Zak could find someone to nurse him.

Ostrowski-Zak had a better idea: she would do it herself. “That was my first instinct,” Ostrowski-Zak tells TODAY. “I thought to myself, ‘I must help this baby.’” Her offer left the aunts speechless. Later, they hugged Ostrowski-Zak and explained they didn’t know of any Jewish women who would have done what she did.

“I was emotional about this sad assumption,” said Ostrowski-Zak, who has an 18-month-old son, Ayam. “I know any Jewish mother would have done the same.”

Israeli nurse Ola Ostrowski-Zak breastfed a Palestinian baby after a car accident left his mother unconscious.Courtesy: The Hadassah Spokesperson

Palestinians get more medical treatment permits in Israel in 2018 – report; Some 20,000 permits were granted, an increase of 3,000, by Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Jerusalem Post, February 12, 2019. Excerpt:

More than 20,000 permits were granted to Palestinians living in West Bank to enter Israel and receive treatment or support a patient who was receiving treatment in the Jewish state, according to numbers released to The Jerusalem Post by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories Unit (COGAT). That number is up by nearly 3,000 from the year before.

Medical coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has been ongoing since 1995 and continues to increase each year, despite ebbs and flows on the security and diplomatic fronts.

As one representative from the program who asked to remain anonymous explained, “treatment must go on” even in times of high tension, including during each of the two intifadas and the more recent uptick of violence in the West Bank.

The Israeli health coordinator trains Palestinian doctors in Israel, helping to improve their capacity to treat patients in the West Bank. Palestinian doctors are paired with professionals from Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem and they become colleagues and friends.

When doctors in the West Bank don’t have the skills or the facilities to provide needed care, Palestinian patients are taken for treatment in Israel, especially to Augusta Victoria Compound, a church-hospital complex located on the southern side of Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem.

Israeli-Arab residents of east Jerusalem work with the health coordinator to volunteer support, bring warm meals and goodies to the families who travel to Israel to support their loved ones, and sometimes even provide them with a place to sleep.

COGAT coordinates the delivery of more coronavirus equipment into Gaza, by Celia Jean, Jerusalem Post, March 20, 2020. Excerpt:

Once again, large amounts of essential coronavirus products were delivered into Gaza through the Erez border crossing by Israel’s Defense Ministry’s military unit COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), on Friday.

“COGAT and the PA are cooperating closely and effectively to manage the outbreak of the virus,” said the head of the civil affairs department of COGAT, Col. Sharon Biton, in a meeting with representatives of international organizations to evaluate the ongoing situation.

“The coronavirus, like other viruses, does not recognize geographic borders.”

Included in the delivery were hundreds of coronavirus testing kits, and 1,000 protective medical gear kits. The coordination was performed through the Coordination and Liaison Administration for the Gaza Strip.

COGAT also coordinated the delivery of an additional 1,000 protective medical gear kits, together with 100 litres of ‘alcogel,’ with hygiene maintaining and virus prevention uses.

Israel provides Palestinian Authority with Coronavirus tests and training, Christians United for Israel, March 6, 2020. Excerpt:

Israel has delivered 250 Coronavirus testing kits to the Palestinian Authority and held joint training sessions in order to help prevent the outbreak of the virus in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced it has been working for the past two weeks with the Palestinian Authority bringing medical professionals together for training for the professional study of the virus, the protection of medical personnel, and the testing of patients suspected of being virus carriers.

In addition, COGAT is accessible to the Palestinian public through its social-media platforms, where they can follow the guidelines published by the Israeli Health Ministry on prevention and protection against the spread of the virus and ways of dealing with infection. The information published in Arabic is available to the entire Palestinian public in Judea and Samaria and in the Gaza Strip.

“COGAT will continue to work closely with the Palestinian authorities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” it said. “That’s in coordination with the Israeli authorities, with emphasis on the Health Ministry and Magen David Adom.

In the past two weeks COGAT has been working to assist the Palestinian Authority in curbing and preventing a #coronavirusus outbreak. 250 test kits have already been transferred from Israel and joint training sessions were held. For further information: https://t.co/HEe0Uxw2BQ pic.twitter.com/6XdTAF5JZ5

— COGAT (@cogatonline) March 5, 2020

NOTE: Less than 24 hours later, on March 7, 2020, a Palestinian terrorist attempted to murder two Israeli police officers:

WATCH: Israeli police officer takes down a stabbing Palestinian terrorist in Jerusalem.

Or as the media calls it: “Palestinian injured by Israeli forces” pic.twitter.com/FBYF4kHzx7 — Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) March 7, 2020

Israeli doctors who saved thousands of Palestinian children honoured by UN, by Verena Dobnik, Independent (UK), June 30, 2018. Excerpt:

A group of Israeli doctors have bypassed the region’s politics to save thousands of Palestinian children and those from 57 other countries by operating on their diseased hearts.

Earlier this week, the doctors with Save a Child’s Heart, an organisation based in Holon just south of Tel Aviv, were honoured at the United Nations, where Israeli positions have often clashed with those held by Arab member nations.

But group co-founder Dr. Sion Houri said that when it comes to children’s lives, “Our activity is international, non-political and non-religious.”

Dr Lior Sasson and his fellow physicians have performed surgery on nearly 5,000 children since Save a Child’s Heart was founded over 20 years ago ( REUTERS/Yonathan Weitzman )

(1)(c) Aid to Lebanese (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as Hezbollah and Hamas)

Israeli hospitals offer to take in wounded from Beirut explosions; With more than 3,000 injured and many Beirut medical centers overwhelmed and damaged, hospitals — with long history of treating patients from hostile countries — offer assistance, Times of Israel, August 4, 2020. Excerpt:

At least three Israeli hospitals offered medical assistance on Tuesday to help treat the thousands of Lebanese injured in the massive explosions that ripped through Beirut.

The explosions flattened much of the city’s port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.

Israel offered humanitarian aid to Lebanon in a rare show of support for the enemy country. And three hospitals said they were volunteering their services.

Israel’s Ziv Medical Center in the northern town of Safed and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa both saying they would take in wounded.

We are “experienced and prepared,” Ziv said. Both northern hospitals have extensive experience treating patients from hostile countries and were both involved in treating Syrians wounded in the Syrian civil war. Ziv has treated more than 5,000 Syrian patients since 2013, keeping their identities confidential.

IDF saves Hezbollah fighter (a Shia Muslim)’s pregnant wife – and he discovered the reality of Israel, then converted, become a rabbi, and moved there

From i24 News: “His name was Ibrahim. He was Lebanese, Muslim, member of Hezbollah. He became Abraham, Israeli, Jewish, and a rabbi. The unbelievable story of a man who crossed the border from one extreme to the other.”

(2) When Israel is forced to defend itself, the IDF goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid causing any harm to non-combatants — even placing its own soldiers at risk to do so

(2)(a) General accounts of the IDF’s efforts to avoid civilian harm during defensive military operations

(2)(b) Sending advance warnings to Gaza civilians to evacuate areas where the IDF is about to use precision-guided munitions to destroy weapons that terrorist groups deliberately store or fire near them, so they won’t be harmed

(2)(a) General accounts of the IDF’s efforts to avoid civilian harm during defensive military operations

VIDEO: IDF Lt. Col. Peter Lerner on the IDF’s Challenges in Fighting Hamas, July 14, 2014.

The IDF’s use of drones and augmented reality technology to precisely target terrorists and their weaponry.

Military Drones, By Full Measure, April 3rd 2022.

Israeli loitering munitions company that supplies US Marines eyes new markets; Combining guided missiles with drone technology, UVision’s series of loitering munitions is being delivered to the U.S. Marines, the Indian military, and now, a new cooperation agreement is in place with a German defense company, by Yaakov Lappin, JNS, November 12, 2021. Excerpt:

The Israeli defense company UVision Air Ltd., which supplies its high-tech loitering munitions to the Israel Defense Forces, the U.S. Marines and the Indian military, is eying new markets as the world wakes up to this relatively new type of weapon.

According to Lev-Ari, loitering munitions are specifically designed to engage small time-sensitive targets that appear and vanish quickly, often in civilian settings—just the type of targets that characterize the contemporary battlefield. […]

Guided missiles can offer precision firepower, but if reality changes while the missile is in the air—such as the targets going behind a wall or civilians suddenly emerging on the scene—the most that can be done is to divert the missile sideways to deliberately miss, explained Lev-Ari.

An alternative option is to rely on armed large unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), though these require their own expensive infrastructure, an airfield, trained personnel and money for maintenance.

Soldiers in the field must request UAV back-up, wait until the UAV reaches them and communicate with it “to make sure it doesn’t fire on them and that it sees the same target,” he added.

Loitering munitions, said Ben-Ari, combines these two capabilities together. Smaller models can fit on soldiers’ backs. Field units using them no longer need to request UAV support or depend on others for aerial firepower.

UVision’s Hero series loitering munitions platform. (Credit: UVision)

A murderous co-operation: The public has scant idea of how it is being misled over Israel and the Palestinians, by Melanie Phillips, Substack, May 16, 2021. Excerpt:

Journalists and the Biden administration have been clutching their pearls over Israel’s bombing of what’s been called the “media building” in Gaza City. This was an 11-story tower where outlets such as Associated Press, Agence France Presse, al Jazeera and others had offices.

In the US, President Joe Biden’s press spokesman Jennifer Psaki tweeted that the United States had “communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility”. In other words, a public rebuke.

Never let the facts get in the way of a jerking “liberal” knee, eh. So much for Biden’s “staunch support” for Israel in its battle to stop the more than 2800 rockets that have been fired at its civilians from Gaza, and are still coming. For the Israel Defence Force had given the occupants of this “media” building an hour’s warning to evacuate, and accordingly no-one was killed or injured.

Israel had thus actually ensured the safety not just of the “journalists and independent media” but everyone in that building. This despite what the Israelis say the building actually housed — a Hamas research and development unit, Hamas military intelligence and offices of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Those people too were given an hour to evacuate. Such is the priority the Israelis give to saving civilian life, they even allow the enemy to escape if it means protecting civilians. (Hamas, by contrast, often force their own civilians to ignore such warnings and stay put in the line of fire where they’ve deliberately placed them, in order to get that all-important western media coverage of child fatalities).

How the IDF invented ‘Roof Knocking’, the tactic that saves lives in Gaza; Israel could have taken the easy way out and attacked without phone calls or warning strikes. But it didn’t. The IDF officers and soldiers in the command center knew what they had to do, by Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, March 25, 2021. Excerpt:

“We identified thousands of targets thanks to our agents on the ground,” explained Victor Ben-Ami, a 30-year veteran of the Shin Bet, who was involved in the effort. “We had a list of warehouses, factories and buildings with the understanding that the enemy had a tactic it was using to do everything it could to blend in and hide within civilian infrastructure.”

The intelligence, Ben-Ami recalled, was incredible. “We knew what floor the target we were looking for was located, what color it was, what was there, where the air-conditioning machine was located and more,” he explained.

But because Israel knew that civilians would be inside the buildings, the IDF and Shin Bet created a new operational doctrine. Before attacking, it would take the extra precaution of contacting the building owner or occupant.

The callers had a standard text they read in Arabic that went something like this: “How are you? Is everything okay? This is the Israeli military. We need to bomb your home and we are making every effort to minimize casualties. Please make sure that no one is nearby since in five minutes we will attack.” The line would then go dead.

Telegraph Reporter Reveals Lengths Israel Goes to in Effort to Avoid Harming Palestinian Civilians in Gaza Airstrikes, The Algemeiner, November 16, 2018. Excerpt:

A tweet published by The Daily Telegraph’s Middle East correspondent on Thursday revealed the lengths the Israeli military went to in order to not harm Palestinian civilians during the surge of violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip earlier this week.

“We got a sense of how careful Israel was to avoid civilian casualties during the airstrikes in #Gaza,” Raf Sanchez wrote. “The Israeli army called one guy we met and spent 45 mins on the phone with him, getting him to evacuate his neighbours, before they blew up a Hamas media building next to his.”

We got a sense of how careful Israel was to avoid civilian casualties during the airstrikes in #Gaza. The Israeli army called one guy we met and spent 45 mins on the phone with him, getting him to evacuate his neighbours, before they blew up a Hamas media building next to his.

— Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) November 15, 2018

VIDEO: Col. Richard Kemp: “IDF is the most moral military in the world”

Kemp served in the British Army from 1977 to 2006 and was commander-in-chief of the British forces in Afghanistan, Here, he addressed a multi-national military forum in Stavanger, Norway in August 2016, about his deep understanding and appreciation of the lengths to which Israel goes to defend its people, while avoiding any collateral damage:

2014 after-action report: THE OPERATION IN GAZA 27 DECEMBER 2008 – 18 JANUARY 2009: FACTUAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS: JULY 2009 BY STATE OF ISRAEL

From the executive summary:

This detailed Paper discusses a range of factual and international legal issues relating to the military operation undertaken by the Israel Defence Forces (―IDF‖) in Gaza in December 2008–January 2009 (the ―Gaza Operation‖).

The Paper addresses the context of the Gaza Operation and notes that Israel had both a right and an obligation to take military action against Hamas in Gaza to stop Hamas‘ almost incessant rocket and mortar attacks upon thousands of Israeli civilians and its other acts of terrorism. Israel was bombarded by some 12,000 rockets andmortar shells between 2000 and 2008, including nearly 3,000 rockets and mortar shells in 2008 alone. Hamas specifically timed many of its attacks to terrorise schoolchildren in the mornings and the afternoons. These deliberate attacks caused deaths, injuries, and extensive property damage; forced businesses to close; and terrorised tens of thousands of residents into abandoning their homes.

The Paper notes that Hamas constantly worked to increase the range of its weapons and that, by late 2008, its rocket fire was capable of reaching some of Israel‘s largest cities and strategic infrastructure, threatening one million Israeli civilians, including nearly 250,000 schoolchildren. Hamas also orchestrated numerous suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and amassed an extensive armed force of more than 20,000 armed operatives in Gaza.

(2)(b) Sending advance warnings to Gaza civilians to evacuate areas where the IDF is about to use precision-guided munitions to destroy weapons that terrorist groups deliberately store or fire near them, so they won’t be harmed

August 5, 2022: Israel provided advance warning to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Gaza civilians to evacuate one of the buildings hosting terrorists, because it will be destroyed, and when:

Israel gave a warning to evacuate this house being used by Islamic Jihad before destroying it.

Notice all the camera crews lined up to film it: pic.twitter.com/fO5K2gfOu4

— Ari Ingel (@OGAride) August 6, 2022

Update, May 11, 2021: A Tweet by the self-described “Gaza Director [of] @UNRWA,” confirms that Israel sends text messages to Gaza residents in or near buildings that Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad is using to house or fire rockets, and which will soon be destroyed:

Residents of a building near my #Gaza apartment have been warned it will be taken down and have evacuated. Over the last minutes a number of terrifying loud warning strikes and just now the big one taking it down.

— Matthias Schmale (@matzschmale) May 11, 2021

Background: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are notorious for firing rockets at Israel from within, beside or atop homes, mosques, schools, hospitals and even UN buildings in the Gaza Strip, using civilians and other non-combatants as human shields. These unguided rockets are aimed at Israeli population centers, and have killed hundreds of civilians, and terrified tens of thousands of others.

Finally, Hamas’s leaders admitted they use Gaza civilians as human shields: After many years of denying Israel’s accusations, in late 2014 Hamas finally admitted all:

Journalists threatened by Hamas for reporting use of human shields; Foreign correspondents asked to leave enclave for social media posts on Hamas’ utilization of civilian sites to attack Israel, by Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post, July 31, 2014,

Hamas Admits to Using Civilians as Human Shields, by Omri Ceren, The Tower, September 15, 2014.

Hamas Quietly Admits It Fired Rockets from Civilian Areas; The Gaza terrorist group offers that “mistakes were made” in its summer conflict with Israel, by Adam Chandler, The Atlantic, September 12, 2014.

Hamas admits it DID use schools and hospitals in Gaza Strip as ‘human shields’ to launch rocket attacks on Israel – but claims it was ‘mistake’, by Matthew Blake, MailOnline, September 12, 2014.

VIDEO: When Hamas admits to the use of human shields, July 9, 2014.

UN report outlines how Hamas used kids as human shields, The NY Post, May 2, 2015.

Hamas Uses Children as Human Shields, and Israel Gets Blamed, by Candace Hall, CAMERA, April 28, 2020.

How is any nation that comes under attack from rockets deliberately fired from atop, next to, or among civilian structures, supposed to respond? Historically, the defending nation’s response is to calculate where the rockets’ firing positions and and return fire, regardless of civilian casualties.

Israel, however, has developed what it considers a far more moral approach to dealing with this situation.

Once the IDF identifies the specific building from which the fire is coming, it calls, sends text messages to, and/or emails residents to advise them to evacuate the building. Here is extensive documentation, provided by the IDF, that illustrates the measures it takes in this regard:

How is the IDF Minimizing Harm to Civilians in Gaza?, by the Israel Defense Forces, July 16, 2014.Excerpt:

The IDF does everything possible to limit civilian casualties in Gaza. Hamas exploits these efforts by encouraging Palestinian civilians to ignore the IDF’s warnings.

This fact is occasionally reported in the news media:

WATCH: IAF drops thousands of leaflets over Gaza warning citizens of airstrikes targeting Hamas; The message, written in Arabic, asks Palestinian civilians to evacuate their homes in northern Gaza in order to avoid harm during IAF strikes, by Jerusalem Post, July 16, 2014.

Israel Drops Leaflets Warning of Northern Gaza Airstrikes, NBC News, July 13, 2014.

Israel drops leaflets warning Gaza residents to evacuate ahead of strikes, by Michael Schwartz, Salma Abdelaziz, and Josh Levs, CNN, July 13, 2014.

Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet, by Steven Erlanger and Fares Akram, New York Times, July 8, 2014.

“Roof Knocking”

The IDF also pioneered the use of “roof knocking,” in which it precisely drops an empty missile shell on the roof of the building that is being surgically targeted, to warn civilians to evacuate. Then, between 5-30 minutes later, the building is attacked with live ordinance, hopefully before the terrorists using it can evacuate their rockets and/or other weapons.

‘Knock on the roof’: This is how it’s done; Video filmed at the Bureij refugee camp shows small mortar hitting roof of building to warn inhabitants of imminent attack, Elior Levy, YNet, July 11, 2014. Excerpt:

Prior to striking a building in the Gaza Strip, the IDF warns its inhabitants using a procedure called “Knock on the roof,” in which forces fire a small mortar at the target to indicate the imminent attack and signal those inside to flee before hitting it with full force.

A video documenting the mortar fired on the home of Hamas rocket unit head Ayman Siam at the Bureij refugee camp, and a short while afterwards the missile that almost destroyed the structure, shows how the “knock on the roof” procedure works.

Siam managed to escape the attack on Thursday with his life.

The video, posted on Palestinian news site Al-Watan, shows the mortar hit the house, causing a small cloud of smoke to rise.

This is the video of the attack, which nearby residents had already been warned well in advance was coming, as they have their camera fixed on Siam’s home, long before the “knock on the roof” (the building is destroyed 57 seconds later):

Israel’s “roof knocking” practice is so effective at saving Gaza civilians’ lives that the US military adopted it:

US Warplanes Adopt Israeli ‘Knock on The Roof’ Tactic, by Richard Sisk, Military.com, April 26, 2016. Excerpt:

The U.S. has adopted an Israeli tactic called a “knock operation,” or “roof knocking,” before airstrikes in the overall effort to limit civilian casualties in the campaign against ISIS, a U.S. military planner for Iraq and Syria said Tuesday.

U.S. warplanes used the tactic on April 5 in an airstrike on an ISIS “cash center” in the northwestern Iraqi city of Mosul that was only partially successful in avoiding killing civilians, said Air Force Maj. Peter Gersten, the deputy commander for operations and intelligence for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

Gersten said U.S. intelligence and aerial surveillance had determined that the building was used by the ISIS’ “emir of finance” to dole out money and possibly housed as much as $150 million in cash. “We also watched occasionally a female and her children” coming and going from the building, Gersten said.

(3) The IDF’s benevolence towards non-combatants is rooted in the core principles that its recruits and officers are taught from day one, and which are are reinforced regularly

December 13, 2023: A video from the IDF on the fundamental difference between Israeli soldiers and Hamas terrorists:

This is who we are, and this is who we’re fighting. pic.twitter.com/3AVWOyXl09

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 13, 2023

Jon Sutz interview with Doron Keidar, IDF (reserve), SaveTheWest, March 23, 2020. Excerpt:

[W]e have what are called “purity of arms” (טוהר הנשק) instructions, which we receive when we are first issued our weapons. They are basic principles about when and how we can use our weapons. It is the ethical code that clarifies that our weapon is the last option and mainly for defense. It states:

“The soldier shall make use of his weaponry and power only for the fulfillment of the mission and solely to the extent required; he will maintain his humanity even in combat. The soldier shall not employ his weaponry and power in order to harm non-combatants or prisoners of war, and shall do all he can to avoid harming their lives, body, honor and property.”

The “purity of arms” doctrine is actually part of a larger articulation of principles and values that guide all IDF personnel, from the bottom to the top, called the “Spirit Of The IDF” (Hebrew; English) which is defined as:

“The ‘IDF Spirit’ is the IDF’s corporate identity card, which should underpin each and every soldier’s operations within the IDF, regular service and reserve service. The ‘IDF Spirit’ and its rules of action are the IDF’s code of ethics. The ‘IDF Spirit’ will be used by the IDF, its soldiers, commanders, units and corps in designing their operating patterns. According to the ‘IDF Spirit,’ they will conduct, educate and criticize themselves and others.”

This ethical code was originally used even before the state of Israel or IDF was founded in the 1940’s. This is something that I have not heard of in other militaries. Also, our military takes extreme risks with our soldiers to prevent harming innocent civilians, as decided by a rabbinical perspective of war ethics, which is extremely unique as well. In fact, this point was made clear to us on visiting Jerusalem, as all the young recruits from my brigade were gathered together, to listen to the Chief Rabbi of the IDF explain to us the military ethics that many of us might not agree with, especially the atheists in our units. He explained how the IDF has chosen to rely on Rabbinic guidance on how to fight war ethically, as a Jewish state. That would mean endangering our own lives in battle, even to prevent civilian casualties from our enemies. He explained that when looking at how the U.S. military conducted similar missions, we would endanger our soldiers in ways they wouldn’t, in order to prevent civilian casualties from our enemies, we statistically had way less casualties for our troops. The rabbi continued to explain that when given the option of firing a smart bomb from one of our fighter jets at a terrorist target, and risking “collateral damage” — innocent people being hurt — or sending in our foot soldiers, and endangering these soldiers’ lives to the enemy, we would rather choose the later.

The IDF’s “Purity Of Arms” treatise, The Israeli Defense Forces Doctrine, April 7, 2004. Highlight by I Love Israel:

Purity of Arms – The IDF servicemen and women will use their weapons and force only for the purpose of their mission, only to the necessary extent and will maintain their humanity even during combat. IDF soldiers will not use their weapons and force to harm human beings who are not combatants or prisoners of war, and will do all in their power to avoid causing harm to their lives, bodies, dignity and property.

(4) Israel & the IDF regularly rush to help others in far-away lands, in the wake of natural & human-caused disasters

Introduction

Whenever there is a natural disaster, anywhere in the world, Israel and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) are usually among the first on the scene, providing life-saving medical facilities, professionals and material, along with vital support services. Since 1990, according to the IDF:

“Israel has sent out 15 aid missions to countries struck by natural disasters. Immediately upon arriving in these countries, IDF doctors set up field hospitals. Overall, medical care was given to more than 2,300 people in afflicted areas, and 220 were saved from certain death.”

Here is a one-minute overview video, produced by the IDF:

Here are detailed accounts of some of these missions. More content will be developed for this section as ILoveIsrael grows:

Ukraine (February-March 2022)

Miami (2021 condo tower collapse)

Mexico (2017 earthquake)

Nepal (2015 earthquake)

Haiti (2012 earthquake)

Other

Ukraine (February-March 2022)

Israeli doctor saves life of Ukrainian girl, 4, suffering from rare genetic disorder; Yasinya, who has cystic fibrosis, arrived at Israeli clinic at Polish border with lungs nearly blocked; ‘It felt like providence,’ says Alex Gilelis, who was able to treat her, by Tobias Siegal, Times of Israel, March 25, 2022. Excerpt:

A 4-year-old Ukrainian girl suffering from a rare genetic disorder who was displaced from her home following the Russian invasion of Ukraine was saved at an Israeli medical clinic operated by staff from Hadassah Hospital and located in the Polish city Przemyśl, near the border with Ukraine.

Originally from Dnipro, Ukraine, Yasinya, her 8-year-old brother and their mother were forced out of their home as Russian forces intensified bombardment on the central-eastern city.

Yasinya has suffered from cystic fibrosis her entire life. The disease affects multiple organ systems, including the lungs, pancreas, liver, kidneys and intestine, and requires a daily regimen of medication and treatment.

Her daily routine requires at least three sessions of assisted ventilation and respiratory physiotherapy in order to remove mucus from her lungs, which makes the act of breathing a repeated challenge for her.

But in the midst of their chaotic escape, many of the family’s belongings were left behind, including the medication Yasinya relies on.

Yasinya, 10, center, her mother, left, and Dr. Alex Gileles, right. (Hadassah spokesperson)

Translation:

“Four armored ambulances and 250 tons of medicines, warm clothes, food were sent to Ukraine from Israel today.“

‘These people have lost everything’: Israeli medics, supplies head to Ukraine border; 40-strong team, 15 tons of aid arrive in Romania on 1st leg of journey to Moldovan field hospitals for refugees fleeing Russian invasion; plane will return to Israel with refugees, by Naomi Lanzkron, Times of Israel, March 3, 2022. Excerpt:

IASI, Romania — A 40-strong team of medical personnel from Israel’s United Hatzalah organization landed in Romania on Thursday morning on the first leg of their journey to staff three field hospitals on the Moldovan border for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

The team is made up of volunteer EMTs, paramedics and doctors, as well as members of the organization’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, which provides aid in the field for people who are undergoing trauma.

Dr. Einat Kaufman, who is heading up the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, said her team will help anyone who needs their assistance at the border, no matter their nationality.

“These people have lost everything all of a sudden. Their lives, their identities – all in one day,” she said.

“There are so many different layers of trauma that these people can be suffering, and the closer they are to a traumatic event, the more likely they are to suffer from PTSD,” she added, explaining that the psychotrauma team will often be the first volunteers encountered by those in need, sometimes even before they receive care for any physical injuries.

Miami (2021 condo tower collapse)

Departing IDF rescue team at Florida condo collapse gets medals, cheers, by Times of Israel, July 11, 2021. Excerpt:

A ceremony was held Saturday to thank members of Israel’s National Rescue Unit for their help in trying to find survivors in the mountain of rubble left behind where a condo building collapsed in Surfside, Miami.

The ceremony was attended by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, and local fire and rescue chiefs.

The Israeli team of seven from the IDF’s Home From Command flew out to the US and began working at the site three days after the building collapsed last month.

Levine Cava presented the team members with medals and thanked them for their help in the grim work.

In return, the Israeli team leader, Col. (res.) Golan Vach, presented Levine Cava and Burkett with an Israeli flag signed by the unit’s members.

“The world came to help #Surfside, and tonight we gave thanks” @senpizzo
Thank you #IDF ??#Surfside #SurfsideStrong @IDF @MiamiDadePD @MiamiDadeFire @FLSERT @HatzalahSoFla @IsraelinMiami @Israel @jacqui_carmona @Mdais @ChiefMaggs38 @MayorDaniella @charlesburkett @hatzalah pic.twitter.com/CZQ1fOYjJF

— Baruch Sandhaus (@BaruchSandhaus) July 11, 2021

‘Sometimes we cry,’ says IDF colonel deployed at site of Florida condo collapse, by Reuters (via Israel Hayom), June 30, 2021. Excerpt:

Col. Golan Vach says Surfside building collapse is one of the most difficult situations he has witnessed. Meanwhile, Rabbi Ariel Yeshurun, who is coordinating supply efforts, says “We’re just seeing an incredible outpouring of compassion and a desire to help.”

IDF Col. Golan Vach, who heads a 15-person search and rescue team from Israel that has joined others in Florida, said on Tuesday that he feels the emotional weight of the scenes of devastation at the Surfside condominium collapse near Miami Beach.

“Sometimes we cry. It’s natural. We are working together. We talk every night… We share and it gives us strength,” Vach, commander of the IDF’s National Rescue Unit, said.

Vach says the Surfside collapse – which happened last Thursday and has killed at least 11 people with about 150 still missing as of Monday – is one of the most difficult and complicated he has ever seen because the floors of the 12-story condo have collapsed on top of one another, like a stack of pancakes.

Col. Golan Vach, Commander of the IDF’s National Rescue Unit, talks with Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett on June 29, 2021 (Reuters/Marco Bello)

IDF Assisting With Response To Miami Building Collapse, Turns Down Free Hotel Rooms To Sleep In Tents, by Ryan Saavedra, Daily Wire, June 29, 2021. Excerpt:

The Israel Defense Forces arrived in Miami, Florida, this week to assist with search and rescue operations in response to the condo building that collapsed which has left well over 100 people missing.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tweeted on Sunday: “Yesterday, @IsraeliPM @naftalibennett offered Israel’s full support to Florida, and today, at the request of some Surfside families, we welcomed an expert IDF recovery team to supplement Surfside’s search and rescue efforts.”

Arutz Sheva 7 reported on Monday that the Israeli forces in Miami “turned down an offer for free hotel rooms, preferring to sleep in tents at the site of the Surfside, Florida, disaster,” according to a local Florida mayor.

Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman told Arutz Sheva 7 that “the rescue workers are working as fast as they can, in a very difficult worksite, with very difficult conditions,” but noted that it was still “a long process, it’s a slow process for the families.”

Mexico (2017 earthquake)

Summary:

- - On September 19, 2017, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Pueblo region of Mexico.

- - On September 23, 2017, the IDF and several Israeli nonprofits had transported and set up the first emergency field hospital in the area, along with search-and-rescue specialists. Israel was the first among nations to rush these services to the victims of this earthquake.

- - On September 28, 2017, after being celebrated in Mexico, the IDF’s medical and search-and-rescue teams were welcomed home by Prime Minister Netanyahu

48 hours after the 7.1-magnitude quake hit. Two Israeli aid organizations — IsraAID and iAid — also sent delegations to help with the search and rescue efforts.

An IDF medic with boys in Mexico, after the 2017 earthquake.

Netanyahu welcomes home IDF’s Mexico earthquake rescue team; PM says their efforts show Israel’s commitment to ‘champion progress and social welfare’, Times Of Israel, September 28, 2017. Excerpt:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed the return of an Israel Defense Forces search and rescue team sent to Mexico to help find victims buried under rubble from a devastating earthquake.

“You are the long arm of Israel, the long humanitarian arm that reaches around the world, across thousands of kilometers, and you show the true face of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu told the soldiers at Ben Gurion airport.

“We know that when nature is cruel, the time has come for humanitarian action. When there are natural disasters, nations, at least the enlightened nations, work together. In this respect, the State of Israel and the IDF have met with impressive success time and again,” he added.

The prime minister said the IDF delegation’s work in Mexico showed the “vast gulf” between Israel and its foes.

“We see the difference between Israel, an enlightened democracy, a state with values and morality that seeks life and is full of life – and the vast gulf between us and those fanatical regimes the goal of which is to sow ruin and destruction everywhere,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen with the IDF delegation sent to Mexico to assist in search and rescue efforts following a major earthquake that hit the country, at a ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport on September 28, 2017.(Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

Israeli rescue team applauded in the streets of Mexico; Dozens of individuals, some waving Mexican flags, spontaneously cheer delegation that is aiding in the search for survivors following earthquake, Times Of Israel, September 23, 2017. Excerpt:

An Israeli rescue delegation was greeted with spontaneous applause in the streets of a Mexican town Friday, in a show of gratitude for the team’s efforts to aid in the search for survivors following a devastating earthquake Tuesday.

In a video published by Channel 2, dozens of individuals, some waving Mexican flags, can be seen cheering the Israeli rescue team as the delegation crosses their path in a town hit by the earthquake.

A 71-member Israeli delegation from the Home Front Command arrived in Mexico on Thursday, some 48 hours after the 7.1-magnitude quake hit. Two Israeli aid organizations — IsraAID and iAid — also sent delegations to help with the search and rescue efforts.

Anxiety was mounting on Friday as Mexico approached the crucial 72-hour mark after the powerful tremor, and exhausted rescuers raced to locate possible survivors trapped in the rubble.

Authorities put the death toll from Tuesday’s quake at 286 people, but it was expected to rise further with scores still missing in Mexico City.

Rescuers from Mexico and Israel search for survivors on September 22, 2017, three days after a strong quake hit central Mexico. (iAid)

Nepal (2015 earthquake)

Israel’s aid team to Nepal among the largest, Times of Israel, April 29, 2015. Excerpt:

Field hospital begins work; nearly 2,000 Israelis evacuated since Saturday; just one Israeli remains unaccounted for.

Israel’s aid team to the earthquake-battered Himalayan nation of Nepal is one of the largest in manpower of any international aid mission.

Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that landed Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country, killing at least 5,000 and leaving some 8,000 wounded and tens of thousands seeking shelter and food.

The Israeli group set up a field hospital with 60 beds that began operations on Wednesday in coordination with the local army hospital.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the Nepalese Army’s chief of staff visited the field hospital to attend its opening ceremony.

Haiti (2012 earthquake)

VIDEO: Profile of IDF hospital in Haiti, by Dianne Sawyer, ABC News, June 10, 2012:

VIDEO: Israel Defense Force aid in Haiti, CNN, January 20, 2010.

Israel rushes to Haiti’s aid; Just a day following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, 220 Israelis, comprising teams of doctors and rescue and relief workers, are already on their way, by Karin Kloosterman, Israel21C, January 14, 2010. Excerpt:

Among the Israeli teams on their way to provide humanitarian aid in Haiti is a medical team of 12 from IsraAID, an early response relief group that springs into action after natural disasters, as well as some 200 others called on by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued this announcement: “Israel is doing all in its power to help the people of Haiti cope with the disaster in their country. A 220-person delegation, headed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, will leave this evening for Port-Au-Prince on two Boeing 747 jets leased from El Al by the IDF.

“The relief package includes a Home Front Command field hospital and rescue unit, as well as teams from Magen David Adom and Israel Police.”

On Wednesday, Israel’s prime minister ordered the country’s Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Public Security Ministry officials to gather a team to help the Caribbean nation deal with its humanitarian crisis.

Col. Doc. Itzik Kryse, head of the field hospital, treats a local girl’s wounded limb. Photo courtesy of the IDF

Israel Humanitarian Operations: Earthquake Relief Efforts in Haiti, Jewish Virtual Library. Excerpt:

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the impoverished nation of Haiti in the Caribbean. The quake, centered only miles away from its capital city Port-au-Prince, and the tens of strong aftershocks that came in its wake, led to the death of an estimated 320,000 and left more than a million Haitians homeless.

Almost immediately, Israel prepared to send an aid delegation as a well as an IDF search & rescue unit to Haiti.

On January 14, two 747 jets leased from El-Al took off from Israel carrying a 220-person delegation made up of volunteers, doctors and soldiers and including aid packages the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Magen David Adom and the Israeli Police.

10 days after quake, Israeli workers rescue buried survivor [Haiti], CNN, January 23, 2010. Excerpt:

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — Israeli rescuers pulled a 22-year-old man from the ruins of a three-story building on Friday, 10 days after the massive earthquake killed tens of thousands of people.

The man, who was not immediately identified, was rescued near the quake-ravaged presidential residence south of the capital, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Maj. Zohar Moshe said American and French doctors asked for the Israeli team’s assistance after trying to rescue the trapped man themselves.

The rescuers “were able to release him whole and healthy” and take him to an IDF field hospital in stable condition for further treatment,” he said.

Rescuers continue efforts to find survivors who have defied the odds, including a 7-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl who were found Tuesday. Another 5-year-old boy, Monley, was pulled alive from rubble nearly eight days after the 7.0-magnitude quake had leveled much of Port-au-Prince.

Other

October 13, 2021: A profile of how an Israeli humanitarian aid group helped rescue vulnerable Afghan Muslims from the Taliban

WATCH NOW. More details on IsraAID’s Afghanistan evacuations from @Hadas_Gold on @CNN pic.twitter.com/Ox7uw2FlNr

— IsraAID (@IsraAID) October 13, 2021

Israel builds houses for 39 families that lost homes in Guatemala volcano blast; Ambassador hands over deeds to new residents of ‘Jerusalem Capital of Israel Street,’ built for those whose houses were destroyed in deadly 2018 Fuego eruption, by Lazar Berman, Times of Israel, February 1, 2021. Excerpt:

Israel’s embassy in Guatemala on Sunday finished its Guatelinda housing project in the town of Escuintla for families that lost homes in the 2018 Fuego volcano eruption.

The blast killed more than 190 people in the Central American country.

Matty Cohen, Israel’s ambassador to Guatemala and Honduras, personally handed over the deeds to all 39 families who received new homes.

“The State of Israel promised, and we are happy,” said Cohen. “Israel will always continue to assist our friend and ally Guatemala.”

Ceremony after the Israeli Embassy in Guatemala completed the Guatelinda project of homes for families that lost their homes in the 2018 Fuego volcano disaster, January 31, 2020.

“Julius Graduates,” Save A Child’s Life, January 13, 2021.

Editor: Save A Child’s Heart is an Israeli nonprofit that enables cardiologists to volunteer to perform life-saving heart surgery on children in need, from around the world. Learn more here.

Excerpt from this article:

We first met Julius in 2011. Due to his heart condition, he couldn’t run or play and although when our doctors first met him they weren’t sure that it would be possible to save his life, they took on the challenge. Julius stole our hearts as the main character of the documentary ‘A Heartbeat Away,’ which followed his remarkable journey from Tanzania to Israel. After his successful surgery, we stayed in touch with Julius and watched him grow. Today, he is 15. He has just finished his Grade 7 National Exam and received the 2020 award for disciplined student of the year at his school.

Julius arrived as a six-year-old boy to be screened during a Save a Child’s Heart medical mission to Tanzania in 2011. Together with Dr. Antke Zuchner, a pediatric cardiologist from Germany who became familiar with the work of Save a Child’s Heart while practicing in Bethlehem and had since begun working at the Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania, the medical team identified Julius’ condition as critical but debated his chances of survival with surgical intervention.

His heart defect had been discovered six months prior when his parents noticed that his heart was beating rapidly and he was having great difficulty performing regular activities. One day, his father found him sitting on the path on his way home from school as he was too exhausted to make it to the top of a steep hill in the Kitangri area of Mwanza City where his family lived. Due to his poor condition, he had to be taken out of school.

Julius at his graduation in 2020

Israeli lacrosse team buys new shoes for cleatless Kenyan rivals, Times of Israel, August 16, 2019. Excerpt:

After realizing their opponents were at a disadvantage, the Israelis surprise the Africans with a useful gift

Israel and Kenyan lacrosse players embrace after the Israeli team gifts its opponents with new cleated shoes, August 7, 2019

Israel’s under-19 Women’s lacrosse team showed some true sportsmanship during the World Championship in Ontario, Canada, last week, after they realized their opponents were playing at a disadvantage.

During their match against Kenya in Peterborough on August 6, the Israelis noticed the underfunded African team did not have cleated shoes as is standard in the sport. The grass was wet from rain and the Kenyans were slipping and having great difficulty with the field conditions. Israel eventually won the game 13-4.

Ashlee Aitken, a liaison for the Kenyan team in Canada, told Global News: “Unfortunately the cleats that they had ordered and sent to Canada all came in the wrong sizes so they had no shoes to play.”

The Israeli team members decided to take action, and spoke with their parents who agreed to fund shoes for the Kenyan athletes. The Israelis contacted the Kenyan coach and discretely obtained the girls’ sizes, then found a store in town that could quickly supply the order.

pic.twitter.com/6GjS7G3cz6

— Kenya Lacrosse (@KenyaLacrosse) August 8, 2019

Yazidi Women Training in Israel to Help Their Community Cope With the Trauma of ISIS, by Ido Efrati, Ha’aretz, July 6, 2019. Excerpt:

Two-week course developed by experts in the hopes community leaders can return to Iraq, where ‘there’s roughly one psychologist or social worker for every 300,000 people,’ with the tools to help others.

It’s hard to look Lamiya Aji Bashar in the eyes. Through them you can see the hell this young Yazidi woman has went through, not to mention her scarred face. The eyes of our Kurmanji translator fill as she translates from this Kurdish dialect into English, proving a little distance from the story of a girl who was taken captive by the Islamic State at age 15. But not enough.

This rare face-to-face meeting took place, surprisingly enough, in central Israeli Bar-Ilan University’s psychology department. Aji Bashar is the only member of her delegation from Iraq who can reveal her face and name. That’s because she now lives in Germany, as part of a special rehabilitation program for 1,100 women and children who survived Islamic State captivity.

Most of the 15 or so women in the delegation are Yazidi, but a few are Christian. And aside from Aji Bashar, they will return to Iraq following a special two-week course that was developed for them in Israel on coping with complex post-traumatic stress disorder – a term used for extreme cases of ongoing trauma, like captivity and severe abuse.

All of the women are active in various aid agencies. Their goal is to use some of the tools acquired during their brief training in Israel to help others ease the deep emotional wounds left by Islamic State’s occupation of northern Iraq, especially among the Yazidis.

Lamiya Aji Bashar who tried to escape countless times after being sold to Islamic State fighters. Meged Gozani

Israeli women — and tech — connect African villages to water, electricity, by Times of Israel, March 6, 2016. Excerpt:

Innovation Africa, founded by Sivan Ya’ari, has brought solar energy, improved irrigation and cleaner water to as many as 1 million people.

A charity led by Israeli women and employing Israeli technologies has connected 104 villages across Africa to water and electricity.

Innovation Africa, the Israeli organization founded by Sivan Ya’ari, has sought to better the lives of rural villagers in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and elsewhere by mining Israeli technological innovation for solutions that fit the needs of hard-to-reach places across the vast continent. Its work was highlighted in a report on Israel’s Channel 2 on Saturday night.

In places with no electrical power, and thus no means for refrigerating medicine or food, or for turning on the lights in schools, Ya’ari’s organization turned to the solar panels that are a ubiquitous feature of Israeli rooftops. These new sources of power also allow villagers to recharge cellular phones without traveling outside their villages to find a working plug, expanding their access to communications and the Internet, the TV report showed. Computers designed to be powered by solar power are being used as educational tools.

Israeli-made locks also help cut down on theft. Israeli drip irrigation systems are dramatically increasing the efficiency of agricultural water use, leading to cheaper and larger crop yields. And a manual pump that can purify water – even sewage – to make it drinkable without the use of electricity is making water safer.

Innovation Africa’s founder and president Sivan Ya’ari and NBA all star Dikembe Mutombo visit Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa.

Israeli ingenuity helps third-world countries to produce water from thin air, by Alexander J. Apfel, YNet, January 22, 2016. Excerpt:

Water-Gen, founded by Arye Kohavi, developed revolutionary technology to ensure IDF soldiers are never short of clean water; Kohavi brought the technology to India, Africa, Central America and China.

A lack of water on the battlefield is not something that soldiers can afford to worry about in the heat of combat. Supplying clean water however, is not always an easy task given the dangers of any battle.

Aware of this fact, Arye Kohavi, a former company commander in the IDF Special Forces, set about creating technology which would ensure that soldiers are never short of clean water and that the water supply is never delayed.

Water-Gen, a company founded by Kohavi in 2009, developed revolutionary technology designed for the military which can produce clean water out of thin air by extracting water from the ambient air humidity. The technology is now being supplied to the Israeli, British, French and American armies.

Israeli Startup To Donate Masks With Antiviral Tech To Healthcare Workers, At-Risk Citizens, by NoCamels, March 15, 2020. Excerpt:

Israeli startup Sonovia Ltd., a company developing novel technology for an anti-pathogen fabric, announced on Sunday that it would be donating thousands of face masks treated with its tech to healthcare professionals who are at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus, as well as vulnerable citizens.

The masks will be available for distribution to service workers and citizens-at-risk within a week, Sonovia scientist Dr. Jason Migdal told NoCamels.

“We are pleased to announce the immediate production of reuseable textile masks from Sonovia’s tech. We wish to direct them straight to those who are most vulnerable and exposed in the current climate and therefore we are donating them to healthcare facilities and service areas such as in transport and hospitality for further distribution,” Dr. Migdal said.

The company aims to produce tens of thousands of masks for distribution with partner factories in Jerusalem, Dr. Migdal added.

The tech consists of a novel, ultrasound-based, anti-microbial coating applied to fabric and textiles.

VIDEO: “Tikun Olam – Israel’s worldwide humanitarian aid missions”

This six-minute video, produced by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is described as follows:

“Israel – through its emergency rescue operations abroad and its foreign assistance missions – strives to realize the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam”, saving lives and making the world a better place for all its inhabitants.

(5) Israel’s development of defensive weaponry that minimizes the chance of collateral damage

Israeli Founder: ‘We Developed Technology to Identify and Locate Hostile Drones, and We Take Control of Them’, The Algemeiner, April 5, 2022. Excerpt:

With the increased availability of drones comes more risk that they will be used in dangerous or malicious ways, says Zohar Halachmi, co-founder and CEO of D-Fend Solutions. But the early solutions for flying threats were meant for large aircraft or they carried risk of collateral damage. D-Fend Solutions created the technology to detect hostile drones and take control of them, leaving other drones and communication systems untouched. Halachmi shares that their work saved the Pope during an event, and most people had no idea there was almost an incident.

As the threats evolve, D-Fend’s solution needs to keep up. The company culture of believing that they can deal with everything and that innovation allows the impossible to happen is key to their success, Halachmi explains. This is his first venture into the drone space, but he enjoys moving into a new type of business with each career move.

A delivery drone is seen midair during a demonstration whereby drones from various companies flew in a joint airspace and were managed by an autonomous control system in Haifa, in an open area near Hadera, Israel March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.

Israel unveils the ‘Iron Sting’ laser, GPS-guided mortar munition; A ‘networked precision fire system’ that engages targets accurately and prevents collateral damage • 10-year development concludes with successful trials, by Udi Shaham, Jerusalem Post, March 14, 2021. Excerpt:

As the IDF completes preparations for possible combat in both the southern and the northern fronts — where it is expected to encounter a smarter, well-organized enemy —the Defense Ministry, the IDF’s Ground Forces and Elbit Systems have revealed a precise, laser and GPS guided mortar munition: the “Iron Sting.”

The 120 mm mortar has recently undergone final trials in a testing site in southern Israel. The completion of testing enables the start of serial production ahead of the system’s supply to the IDF, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The body in charge of development of the system in the Defense Ministry is the Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D).

The series of tests was carried out using two networked “Cardom” mortar systems developed by Elbit: a “Cardom” system, mounted on an M113 APC and a “Cardom Spear” system, mounted on a Hummer 4X4 SUV.

The ministry said in a statement that Iron Sting is designed to engage targets precisely, in both open terrains and urban environments, while reducing the possibility of collateral damage and preventing injury to non-combatants. Its operational use will revolutionize ground warfare and equip battalions with organic, accurate and effective firepower.

(6) Other facets of Israel’s generosity

MDA delivers food baskets to Israeli-Arab city of Sakhnin during Ramadan; The program delivers, tahini, sugar, salt, halva, soups, drinks and sweets, among other items, to low income families unable to purchase the items for themselves, by Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2021. Excerpt:

Magen David Adom volunteers in the Israeli-Arab city of Sakhnin are helping deliver food to families in need during the month of Ramadan.
The program delivers, tahini, sugar, salt, halva, soups, drinks and sweets, among other items to low income families unable to purchase the items for themselves.

MDA, working alongside local aid organizations in Sakhnin, personally collected and packed the first round of food baskets set to go out to the families this year, marking its fifth year for the initiative.

Last year, 600 food packages were collected and distributed. This year MDA hopes to reach even more families, it said.

Senior medic Ahmed Badarna noted that MDA has launched an informational campaign appealing for food donations for the public, asking for certain products specifically used during the month of Ramadan, so that “all residents would be able to eat a respectable meal.”

MDA delivers food baskets to Israeli-Arab city of Sakhnin during Ramadan (photo credit: MDA)

New Israeli Initiative Uses Public Refrigerators to Feed Poor and Prevent Waste, The Algemeiner, June 10, 2020. Excerpt:

A new Israeli initiative to distribute food to the poor and prevent waste has taken hold in Jerusalem.

The official Twitter page of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Digital Diplomacy Team publicized the initiative with the words, “We’re not crying, you’re crying.”

Spearheaded by young residents of Jerusalem, the project — called The Fridge — involves public refrigerators stocked by local vendors who donate unsold produce.

We’re not crying, you’re crying.

We ❤️ this incredible initiative by Jerusalem’s young residents to feed the needy and prevent food waste.

Local vendors donate extra food at the end of each day which is then placed in fridges throughout Israeli cities.

?המקרר/The Fridge pic.twitter.com/EQHJ08Mma5

— Israel ישראל (@Israel) June 10, 2020

Israel’s humanitarian benevolence – even for enemies

Contents

Preface: The strange intersection of Israel’s humanitarian benevolence, “ET The Extra-Terrestrial,” and ILoveIsrael’s core philosophy

(1) Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly provided life-saving medical treatment to citizens of neighboring nations, many of which are sworn to its destruction — even the families of terrorist gang leaders

(1)(a) Aid to Syrians (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and others)

(1)(b) Aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories — including the families of terrorist leaders with Hamas, Fatah & Palestinian Islamic Jihad

(1)(c) Aid to Lebanese (which may inadvertently include members or supporters of terrorist gangs such as Hezbollah and Hamas)

(2) When Israel is forced to defend itself, the IDF goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid causing any harm to non-combatants — even placing its own soldiers at risk to do so

(2)(a) General accounts of the IDF’s efforts to avoid civilian harm during defensive military operations

The IDF’s use of drones and augmented reality technology to precisely target terrorists and their weaponry.

(2)(b) Sending advance warnings to Gaza civilians to evacuate areas where the IDF is about to use precision-guided munitions to destroy weapons that terrorist groups deliberately store or fire near them, so they won’t be harmed

(3) The IDF’s benevolence towards non-combatants is rooted in the core principles that its recruits and officers are taught from day one, and which are are reinforced regularly

(4) Israel & the IDF regularly rush to help others in far-away lands, in the wake of natural & human-caused disasters

Ukraine (February-March 2022)

Mexico (2017 earthquake)

Nepal (2015 earthquake)

Haiti (2012 earthquake)

Other

(5) Israel’s development of defensive weaponry that minimizes the chance of collateral damage

(6) Other facets of Israel’s generosity

Archives

Categories