Once again a nation refused to accept aid from Israel during a castastrophic event. First Iran after a massive earthquake several months ago and now the heads of state of governments involved in the Tidal Wave diaster last week. Israel was purported to send over 125 trained emergency people and a plane load of blood and blood products. Apparently Israel was told to take their offering back (ie. we don’t want help from Jews!!!).
Do any of you out there admire those leaders for being true to their beliefs? or do you feel they are selfish, immature , uncaring people?
There are reports about how India is increasing their aid to Sri Lanka in order to overshadow the american help there. US and Western assistance also has its political implications and meanings. Its all about politics…
If Israel weren’t so small they wouldn’t so easily disregard their help of course(turning down U.S. help for example would much more clearly mean letting many people die)… but on the other hand Israel is hardly loved by muslims anywhere (with some good reasons nowadays IMO). Can’t blame them from turning down help offers.
Has any other country besides Sri Lanka been offerred aid from Israel and turned it down? Sri Lanka has a small muslim population, but AFAIK, this is not like Israel offerring aid to Iran (ie, the Islamic State of…).
Seems stupid, but I don’t know what all the facts are. Maybe there is a rational explanation somewhere.
They may be declining aid from Israel because they realize if they accept it, they’ll lose even greater aid that Islamic countries otherwise would have provided.
Let’s say the shoe is on the other foot. Soon after 9-11, Guiliani refused an aid package from a Saudi because of anti-Semetic remarks made by that individual. So was Guiliani a cold-hearted SOB or acting in a principled manner?
To make the facts clear on that, Giuliani refused the donation because the prince who offered it used the press generated by the occasion to criticize US policy towards Israel and suggest that it was a root cause of the attacks. The remarks were not, taken by themselves, anti-Semetic.
I’m unaware of any Israeli statements or other strings attached to their offer of aid.
The statements are, then, true. The main reason Muslims hate us IS for our support of Israel. Maybe they’re right (to hate us) and maybe they’re wrong, but that is the reason.
Yes, but the question posed by the OP is not whether nations should take aid subject to strings or conditions or whathaveyou. The question posed by the OP was whether we should “admire those leaders for being true to their beliefs” or if we consider them to be “selfish, immature, uncaring people.”
It seems that the essence of the question is whether (nearly) all political principles should be set aside in the goal to obtain aid to save lives in a disaster. By that measure, I think the 9-11 situation is a perfectly good analog to discuss the question.
I don’t think Guiliani did anything wrong by refusing the aid from the Saudi in question. Had Pol Pot offered to send his murderous henchmen to assist after 9-11, we’d do well to refuse his offer, also.
If Sri Lanka feels so strongly about the Middle East that it feels it would compromise their principles to accept assistance that included a contingent from the Israeli military, then so be it. It appears that the only problem for the Sri Lankans is the military part of the contingent, for the BBC article above notes that they have accepted aid from other Israelis NGOs. If it is good for the goose, it is good for the gander.
There is a big difference between what Guiliani did and the situation the OP is talking about. By refusing Israel’s aid it is very likely that more people will die. When Guiliani refused the aid nobody’s lives were in danger. All that aid would do is replace material things not save peoples lives.
Part of my Southern upbringing is to be finicky about who I allow myself to be “beholden” to. If someone does gives you something, there is an implicit obligation that goes along with it. Chances are, I someone I absolutely despise offered me help, I would not take it unless I simply could find no other course.
Speaking for myself, I understand the desire not to take help from someone you hate. It is the underlying hate itself that I have a problem with in this case. I have a lot easier time with “I hate this Jew” or “I hate that Gentile” than I do with “I hate Jews” or “I hate Gentiles”.
Approximately 150,000 innocent poor people who live from day to day lost their lives by the EQ/Tidal wave.
So many of them need and needed help…For some Islamic leader to decide to keep medical aid and supplies away from these “strangers” whom they lead is criminal IMO.
It reminds me of one of the questions in a game called SCRUPLES:
If you had the ability to prevent one of the following incidents in the weekend to follow, which one would you choose:
preventing an earthquake in Mongolia which if allowed to occur would wind up
in the loss of lives of 100,000 people
preventing the crash of a large aircraft carrying 520 citizens where all on board
would die as a result of the crash
3…preventing the loss of life of your best friend.
The simple fact remains that Rudy’s grandstanding stunt was nothing more than political showboating. If we’re going to be discussing the benefits and drawback of refusing aid for political showboating reasons, why limit it to the one example from the OP?
By my reading of the article linked, it seems the primary objection is about the sending of Israeli troops. It appears to me that Israeli NGOs are being welcomed. I would think that a country has a right to be sensitive about which troops are being welcomed into one’s country. I don’t think Americans would have reacted too well if a company of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army flew into New York to help dig through the rubble.