Wednesday this week - President of Haiti Rene Preval personally offered thanks to Israel for her efforts to help his stricken nation in the wake of the devastating earthquake which may have killed as many as 200,000 people. Part of that aid has been the provision of a well-appointed field hospital, staffed by doctors and nurses and stocked with a range of necessary medicines and equipment - Israel was the first outside nation to set up such a facility; and IDF Home Front Command rescue teams were among the very first foreigners to arrive there. CNN quoted a Haitian authority as saying: "No One Except the Israeli Hospital Has Taken Any of Our Patients" and other headlines from around the world have been just as quick to praise:
NBC News - Israeli Field Hospital a Model for Crisis Care
Fox News - Israel's Makeshift ICU Saving Lives in Haiti
CBC News - Israeli IDF Hospital: The "Rolls Royce" of Medicine in Haiti
Even the BBC, who have faced multiple accusations of antisemitism both thinly-veiled and outright in recent years, got in on the act with Israelis Save Trapped Earthquake Victim. Sky News reports that a baby born shortly after the tragedy has been named Israel by a mother grateful for the Israeli aid workers who were on hand to help her during the birth.
It is sometimes - all too correctly, as history demonstrates - said that "what one Christian does is his own responsibility; but what one Jew does is thrown back at all Jews," meaning, as I'm sure I don't need to point out, that if one Jew commits a sinful or illegal act, all other Jews are tarred with the same brush. Let's hope that this applies not only to Jews in general but to Israelis also, and that it works with decent, honourable, humane acts too. It is wrong to profit from another's misfortune as we all know, but let us hope that the world will take note of Israel's actions and realise that her foreign policies are not all aggressive and that she remains a force for good in a harsh world. Would it be chesed to donate to a Jewish charity's Haitian aid fund while hoping that our efforts will also reflect well upon us? Chesed, after all, is supposed to be the act of giving to charity or carrying out charitable acts without expecting reward. If Jewish efforts to help the people of Haiti serve to not only improve the lives of those whose world has been destroyed by the earthquake but also to improve the image of Jews and Israel around the world (all too often, "Jews" and "Israel" are assumed to be synonyms in the popular mind, as we can see whenever an Israeli act sparks a wave of antisemitic attacks in other countries) then that will help to improve not only our individual lives but that of all Jews. That certainly sounds like chesed to me, and that's why I've donated money via World Jewish Relief. I hope you will too.
Elsewhere in the news, Colonel Tim Collins visited Sderot and has gone on record to state his belief whilst making a programme with the BBC that Hamas is guilty of war crimes and particularly highlights what he says is proof that a mosque, bombed by the IDF, was being used to store explosives for Hamas - this, if it were found to be true, would take more than a little wind from the sails of those who accuse Israel of committing her own war crimes during the Gaza offensive. Ex-SAS Colonal Collins has served in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Cyprus, the Gulf and the Falklands and has been awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service. He is, in other words, a man who knows his stuff when it comes to all matters concerning warfare and terrorism and one who should be listened to when he discusses those subjects.
Could it be that the tide will soon turn? The antisemites who seek to tarnish Israel's reputation are going to have a hard time arguing their case if all of this (they'll try, of course. Some news sources are already suggesting that Israel is secretly harvesting the organs of victims) - Israel's efforts to help Haiti and Colonel Collins' report - makes the impact that they ought to; and once again antisemitism, just like any other form of racism or ethnic hatred, will, it is to be hoped, crumble in the face of truth.