Israeli Ambulance Drivers Save Palestinian Lives

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A Palestinian policeman and Leila, his three-year-old daughter who suffers from high blood pressure, are on their way to Tel Hashomer Hospital, near Tel Aviv, for treatment for the little girl. They were picked up at the border crossing by my brother, Amir Adar, 60, an Israeli software engineer and a volunteer for Road to Recovery, a group of Israelis who drive sick Palestinians to Israeli hospitals from the West Bank and Gaza.

NEW REPUBLIC reports that although there are hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza, they are not as well-equipped as the ones in Israel. Many people with cancer, people who need a transplant or children who need dialysis have to go to Israel for life-saving treatments. While the Israeli health system is not responsible for the health of Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority pays high tariffs for any treatment for its citizens (as well as those in Gaza), which makes the Palestinian patients welcome and valuable guests. The problem is getting them into Israel, and to the hospital, in the first place.

Volunteers take sick Palestinians from border crossings to Israeli hospitals and back again. Without them, patients like Leila would have no option but to take a taxi into Israel, which is too expensive for most Palestinians.

Many people with cancer, people who need a transplant or children who need dialysis go to Israel for life-saving treatment.

Road to Recovery’s 500 volunteers provide the Palestinians with a free ride and the company of an Israeli to ease their fears. Read the full report at NEW REPUBLIC.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}


3 COMMENTS

  1. What a waste of yiddishe gelt. This isn’t chessed. Most of them are considered halachik roitzchim and possibly, this may bring another be’heimishe terorist into this world. Another case of misguided people who use their own opinions and values for personal satisfaction and feeling of self righteousness. Foolish are the ones who don’t talk and align themselves with the gedolai Yisroel.

  2. To Anonymous 1, and 2, please read the full article. It is interesting and it gives a very realistic picture. It is not PC-fest. It also remarks how few of their volunteers are Israeli Arabs, as well as pointing out that it is the authority that should take responsibility for running high standard medical care for its citizens, or at the very least, rides from checkpoints to hospitals should be arranged for palestinians authorized to receive medical care in Israel. However, it is not so, and those people, misguided as they may be, see a suffering human being and they can’t bear the sight. It’s called being compassionate. And I am glad that few people who ask for their assistance are Yidden, which means most Israeli Yidden who need to go to the hospital have family and friends who can help them get there for treatment and who are willing and eager to help. With regards to the gedolim, I doubt that any of them would discourage doing kindness to a sick nonjew, which is not the same thing than asking a Yid to do even more kindness to our Jewish neighbour. Perhaps I missed something and you have the opinion of the Gedolei Yisrael who state this organization’s (and similar’s) work is objectionable? Please refer me to their words. I am also afraid that the remark about their critics not being that fast to helping fellow Yidden, is more realistic than I would like it to be.

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