Reaching out to countries in need is a long-standing Israeli tradition. Emergency teams went to Turkey after an earthquake in 1999, and again in 2011, even though Turkey initially declined twice because of eroding relations between the two countries.
Israel sent a large team to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and in March 2011, it was the first country to set up a field hospital in Japan after the tsunami. Similar relief efforts were conducted in Mexico (1985), Armenia (1988), Greece (1999), Egypt (2004) and Kenya (2006).
And though Syria has been at war with Israel since the Jewish state declared independence in 1948, Israeli physicians have been treating victims of the Syrian civil war for years, sometimes in field hospitals and at times in Israel’s major hospitals. Israel has even been sending aid into Syria proper.
When the IDF team dispatched to Haiti during its devastating earthquake returned to a hero’s welcome at Ben Gurion International Airport in 2010, standing amongst the huge crowd were Orli and Tali, daughters of former South Africans Charles and Vivienne Abelsohn of Kfar Saba. Both had been selected for the El Al flight that transported the Israeli soldiers and equipment to Haiti two weeks earlier. Tali went as the purser (flight Manager) while Orli’s official position was ‘Weight & Balance’. “I was in charge of loading and off-loading the plane,” Orli told Telfed Magazine.
“When we landed at Port-Au -Prince, there was no off- loading equipment to help, so the army boys all tucked in.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi were on hand to welcome the returning 200-member team. “As many plot against us, distort and muddy our names, you have shown the real IDF,” said Netanyahu in his public address, and while “many are trying to tarnish our image,” IDC’s Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi said, ‘With your deeds, you have proven that the opposite is true.”
“It was a once in a lifetime flight,” expressed both sisters. “The atmosphere en board was incredible. We were all one family embarking on a mission which made us so proud to be Israeli.” In the hold were small cages with dogs. “These were to be used to find survivors in the rubble. The soldiers on board had no illusion on the job at hand and they were highly motivated to get cracking,” said Orli.
“Get cracking” appears the motto for many Israelis when they hear the cry for help!
