Posted on 06/15/2002 3:36:29 PM PDT by Enemy Of The State
American who arranged care for Palestinian infants refused reentry Israeli authorities have refused reentry to the country of the head of a Christian charitable fund which arranges heart surgery in Israeli hospitals for Palestinian infants. Jonathan Miles, a US citizen, founded the Israeli non-profit organization Light to the Nations to help raise funds abroad for the medical help carried out in Israel. An article about his work in conjunction with the "Save a Child's Heart" organization at Wolfson Hospital in Holon was published in The Jerusalem Post last September 21. "Save a Child's Heart" is the largest program in the world providing free urgent pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care for children from Third World and developing countries. Miles travelled back and forth between Israel and the Gaza Strip, facilitating the transfer of Palestinian babies to Israeli hospitals and bringing medications into Gaza unavailable there. He raised money abroad, mainly from Christians, for the medical care, and set up an emergency referral system for newborns in Gaza and the West Bank who need heart surgery in Israel. In addition to Wolfson, Sheba, Rambam, and Schneider hospitals have also treated Palestinian children for a fraction of the usual cost at the request of Light to the Nations. Miles also provided a link between Israeli physicians and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Cardiologist Dr.Akiva Tamir, a member of the volunteer team in the 'Save a Child's Heart' program at Wolfson, said "one of Jonathan's contributions was the good vibes he created with the Palestinians families whose children we treated. It takes a lot for parents from Gaza in an atmosphere so full of hate, to bring us their children to treat. Jonathan really persuaded them that they can trust us." Miles first came to the country as a journalist in 1990. For two years his family lived in Khan Yunis, but moved to Jerusalem last year. He says that for the last six years he was granted visas for himself and family as a relief worker, and that requests to have his residency application be decided by the Knesset inter-ministerial committee set up to rule on such requests were repeatedly blocked by the Interior Ministry. According to Miles, in April the Interior Ministry ordered him to leave the country within 14 days, along with his wife Michelle and five of the couple's six children. Last week when he returned from a fund-raising trip he was barred entry, kept in a holding cell at the airport, and deported. According to the spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, Tova Elison, Miles and his family "were not deported but asked to leave the country because they were here illegally. They wanted a permanent status, but there was no reason to grant them this. Every one who is here illegally is asked to leave. If [Miles] wants to re-enter the country he has to ask for a visa abroad," she said. Miles's attorney, Ezriel Levi, said "This is a humanitarian question, not for Jonathan's sake, but for the children he is helping. Perhaps the present interior minister believes that helping Palestinian sick children is not a worthy aim. As a citizen of this country I can only be sorry about this."
Morally ambiguous passage. Initially, I thought Dr. Tamir was speaking of the Arab "atmosphere so full of hatred," but why would Pali Arabs have to be "persuaded .. that they can trust" Jews with their children? Only the Palis are in the business of killing children. Baed on the last quoted line, I think the doctor is claiming that the "hate" is all from the Jews. If that is so, then we may be talking about collaborators with the Palis.
Israel is up to its neck in "humanitarian workers," "diplomats," and "VIPs" who have used their special status to ferry weapons to the terrorists. It is using creative ways to get rid of these internationalist criminals.
True - but less than 2% of all Palis.
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