Israeli I.D.F. disaster-relief specialists in quake-hit, south Turkey, rescue 10 civilians; Set up early field hospital

Overnight, Home Front Command search and rescue experts pull 26-year-old woman, 65-year-old man out of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaraş

by EMANUEL FABIAN in The Times of Israel 8 February '23

I.D.F. Search and Rescue teams work to find survivors of Turkish earthquake on Tues 8 February 

Israeli military search and rescue teams working since a devastating earthquake struck southeastern Turkey earlier this week have so far pulled out ten Turkish civilians from the rubble, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning.

The IDF Home Front Command delegation began work on Tuesday, a day after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the region and killed thousands of people.

Meanwhile, a second IDF delegation that landed in the country on Wednesday began establishing a field hospital on the outskirts of the city of Kahramanmaraş overnight.

The IDF said 15 Air Force cargo planes ferried hundreds of tons of equipment and some 230 participants — including search and rescue experts, military medics and Health Ministry doctors, nurses and paramedics — to Turkey to set up the hospital.

The first IDF delegation of 150 search and rescue experts continued to work to rescue civilians trapped under the rubble, saving a 26-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man in the predawn hours of Thursday in the quake-stricken city, also known as Marash.

The military published footage of the rescues.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, the head of the aid delegation, Col. (Res.) Golan Vach, said the Israeli teams had seen successes. Vach said such IDF aid delegations usually last between nine and 14 days, and in this case, were ready to stay that long.

Several delegations of Israeli medics from emergency organizations have also headed to Turkey to assist local authorities in treating victims of the earthquake.

The Foreign Ministry was weighing an additional flight to Turkey containing humanitarian items and medicine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel also plans to send aid to Syria, including tents, medication, and blankets. But Syrian sources vigorously denied requesting aid from Israel, and IDF spokesman Ran Kochav told reporters that the military was not involved in potential aid to Syria.

Israel considers Syria a hostile state, and the two do not have diplomatic ties. However, during the neighboring country’s bloody civil war, the IDF carried out a massive humanitarian operation to aid Syrian civilians.

The earthquake death toll was at least 16,000 people in both Turkey and Syria as of Thursday morning.

Hundreds were still believed to be trapped under rubble, and the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched through mounds of wreckage in cities and towns across the area.

(Article continues)

Hurricane Sandy aftermath reveals natures of Obama, Islamists, & Zionists beyond lapdog-media's narrative

Donna VanZant (r), hugged by Obama in pre-election Hurricane Sandy visit,
complains he abandoned her after her photo helped him win re-election

The significance of candidate Barack Obama comforting victims of Hurricane Sandy was an unexpected boon to his campaign which I don't seem to be noticing in post-election analyses. Despite President Obama’s pledge of the full support of the federal government, many hard-hit victims of the Oct. 29th storm had not received help by mid-December.  The victims have had to deal with red-tape the president said would not be tolerated. Victim, Donna Vanzant, whom Obama hugged before cameras, charges  Obama as having exploited her for his campaign, and has not delivered.


Obama’s Broken Promises to Sandy Victims  
Sandy victims still struggling to find warm housing" - Washington Free Beacon, Dec 10, 2012

"Six weeks after Sandy hit the New Jersey and New York coast, residents are still struggling and in desperate need of shelter. ... In the Red Hook community of Brooklyn, N.Y., many residents are still living in their unheated, powerless homes in freezing temperatures. Help from the government for residents has not come.

One victim from the Midland Beach section of Staten Island is living out of his car, going from one house to another each day in search of a warm bed. Dozens of residents are living in their sewer-flooded homes without heat or power in Gerritsen Beach.

Family in public FEMA tent after Sandy (Brian Sotelo)

Thousands living in hotels courtesy of FEMA are about to lose their rooms. Hotel stays for victims are set to expire on Dec. 13. That would force tens of thousands into the cold, which could prove a public relations disaster for the Obama administration and FEMA.

“Some people are camping in their homes,” said Kirby Desmarais, volunteer coordinator for Red Hook Volunteers, a group affiliated with the Red Hook Coalition. Desmarais did not have an exact number of those in Red Hook who are living in homes without power or heat in freezing temperatures. But she said it is “a lot.”

Red Hook, located a few blocks from New York Harbor and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, was hit hard. The harbor flooded homes and damaged residents’ furnaces and basement electrical boxes. Many residences remain in the dark.

When asked how well the government is responding to the crisis, Desmarais said that it is a “hard question to answer. … We had no help for 12 days. The Red Cross and the National Guard, they came too late to help.”  

Would the media be hiding matters of the government's failures in implementing campaign-promised aid without red-tape if George Bush were still president?  As Obama won, the mainstream media protecting him instead advanced feel-good stories of Secret Santa handing out money. They promoted celebrity fundraising concerts with Obama campaigners Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bonjovi.  The mainstream media advanced Obama's narrative by under-reporting stories about his unfulfilled promises of  disaster-aid follow-up, just as they under-reported stories pertaining to Israeli humanitarian efforts to aid victims - and Islamists' glee in the damage to America- as a step towards its conquest by Islam.

Muslim Clerics: Sandy is Divine Punishment, Israel National News, 11/2/12

Salman al-Audah blames Sandy on Americans not accepting
Islam while his rich country, Saudi Arabia, sent US no aid

Prominent Saudi Arabian cleric Salman al-Audah said the storm, which killed more than 140 people, was a wake-up call for Americans to convert to Islam.

"To all those who pray that Hurricane Sandy will bring disaster, I quote the words of the Prophet [Muhammad about] the idolaters in Mecca: 'I hope that [Allah] produces from their loins [sons] who worship Him [i.e., who become Muslims],'" he wrote, according to remarks translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Another Saudi cleric, Nasser Al-'Omar, likewise regarded the storm as divine punishment, and even issued a fatwa stating that the Muslims must be glad and thank Allah for it.

"We must rejoice at anything that harms these arrogant and tyrannical oppressors," MEMRI quoted him as having said. 

Various Israeli non-governmental agencies (NGOs) working to bring relief to victims and supplies to emergency workers in New York and New Jersey.  Karen Levy reports from Israel News Agency:

Israel Flying Aid & synagogue volunteers in Connecticut
 preparing an emergency food convoy for Hurricane Sandy victims

One week after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected a formal offer by Israel to assist in emergency disaster relief, other authorities in New York State formally asked Israel for "all aid and or assistance." 

The Israel Defense Forces which has been on-site helping thousands of disaster victims in several countries including Haiti, Turkey, Japan and most recently in Ghana to assist in search-and-rescue efforts following the collapse of a multi-story shopping center in the city of Accra.  Following Governor Cuomo's rejection for assistance from Israel, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers remained without electricity, food, water and shelter.

Ethically, who's who? Gazan Hamas tortured and obliterated legs of young Fatah men; Israeli doctors & nurses tend to their recovery

(Video: Time.com)

Eyewitness video of brutal ambush of Israeli troops at sea

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of 'peace activists,' and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter 


"Our Navy commandos fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members. A few minutes before thetakeover attempt aboard the Marmara got underway, the operation commander was told that 20 people were waiting on the deck where a helicopter was to deploy the first team of the elite Flotilla 13 unit. The original plan was to disembark on the top deck, and from there rush to the vessel's bridge and order the Marmara's captain to stop.


Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation's commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on.

Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.

However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.

One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other "don't shoot, don't shoot," even though they sustained numerous blows.

'I saw the tip of a rifle'

The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.

The planned rush towards the vessel's bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. "Throw stun grenades," shouted Flotilla 13's commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.

The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.

Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters' legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.

"I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell," one commando said. "He fired at us and we fired back. We didn't see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn't find him." Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.

2 errors

During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.

Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiers' hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara.

It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops – not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them.

The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them."  (YNet) 

Prof. Martin Sherman: Save Palestinians from perpetual exploitation by Arab enemies of Israel; a humanitarian solution

'Reframe the Palestinian issue in humanitarian, rather than political terms," reasons Tel Aviv University Prof. Martin Sherman. He shows Palestinian leaders admitting their fabricated 'identity' is only a tactic in an Islamist crusade to reconquer Israel & re-dominate the world. 

In this video presentation, Prof. Sherman lays out the case that Arabs perpetuate the 62-year old "Palestinian-refugee" cause (and reject repeated Israeli offers for statehood) mainly to increase Islamist political capital around the world. 

Arab and Palestinian corrupt politicians, he demonstrates, created, exploit, and perpetuate refugee sufferage (which could have been resolved any day during the past 6 decades ago) - and Prof. Sherman proposes a humanitarian and pragmatic solution for the situation immediately. 

This approach takes into consideration the best interests of the Arab-rejected Palestinian refugees, the Arab-rejected Gaza Arabs, the intolerant West Bank Arabs, and the peace-seeking Israelis.

Presented by Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Los Angeles - Cjhsla.Org.

CBS and CNN online news editors downplay Israel's role in reporters' stories

Though CBS' Dr. Jennifer Ashton and CNN's Dr. Elizabeth Cohen's video news stories feature Israel's prominent M*A*S*H field hospital, you'd never know it by the omission of any reference to Israel or their field hospital in their story descriptions or blurbs. Why not? Because Israel doing a visibly humanitarian act contradicts their vilified casting of the country, culture, Army, and ethics?
The web editor does their best to marginalize Israel's role in the print story:

Also Monday, a local community hospital with three operating rooms re-opened and just three miles from the large and sophisticated field hospital set up by the Israeli military continues to treat patients and save lives.

Neither story mentions what the problem with America's field hospital is, or why the Israelis are being relied upon, but not recognized, for having to pick up U.S. slack.

In ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser's story, even though he features the Israeli Army field hospital as the saviours of his obstetric crisis, Israel is also omitted in the editors' description online. 3 TV networks news stories feature Israel favorably, 3 networks' websites omit it. Coincidence? Or journalistic-bias?

Israeli humanitarian M*A*S*H field hospital in Haiti working double-duty in America's absence - 'The only ones operating"

Israeli field hospital earns accolades as the only aid mission able to do complex surgery in devastated country. CNN reports other missions transfer patients to Israeli base. ABC reported on young woman giving birth there.

CNN reported that Israel is the only state so far to have sent a field hospital equipped with all that is required for surgical operations. Doctors from various missions send patients requiring surgery to Israel's makeshift hospital, particularly those whose condition is critical, the news network said.

According to the report, other field hospitals contain no more than stretcher beds and medical teams who administer first aid, and they are not prepared for complex surgery.

More than 100 injured patients require surgery, but are unable to get it anywhere except at the Israeli field hospital in Port-au-Prince. The doctors are unable to meet the demand, and meanwhile the patients lie in tents, administered with painkillers, and cry for help. "They'll die within 24 hours if they don't get operated on," CNN's Medical Correspondent Dr. Elizabeth Cohen reports.

Criticism against the US mission was voiced in the ABC News item. The US had sent staff for a field hospital, but they had still not received the instruments required for surgery. The equipment was supposed to arrive by the weekend, but will get there only Monday night, it seems. Only then will the US be able to set up its field hospital. The Obama White House said that a US ship, to be used as a floating hospital, is also on the way from Baltimore to the earthquake-torn country. The ship, with 600 doctors and nurses as well as medical equipment is due to arrive within two days. (Ynet Mon 18 Jan 2010)



Harvard's Dr. Jennifer Furin treating Haiti's infectious-diseased: "No one except the Israeli hospital has taken (to save the lives of) any of our patients!" With tiny Israel from the far-side of the planet shipping, manning, and running the only humanitarian, mobile surgical hospital on the scene, another American doctor comments about their need to put-upon Israel, America's tiny, under-funded ally, "This almost makes you embarrassed to be an American." Watch CNN's Dr. Elizabeth Cohen's video news report

The Israel Defense Forces' field hospital is currently the largest operating in Port-au-Prince. It has a staff of over 40 doctors, with different specialists, nurses, paramedics and features a maternity ward, ICU, pediatrics unit, internal medicine department, a pharmacy, and operating rooms. The hospital can treat up to 500 patients a day.

Footage from the IDF Field Hospital that has been set up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake. This video includes footage of the first baby born at the field hospital on 17 January 2010. The mother arrived at the IDF field hospital 8 months pregnant and Maj. Dr. Shir Bar and Maj. Efrat Shayer delivered a healthy baby boy, whose mother named 'Israel' in tribute.



Exactly one year ago, Israel established a free humanitarian hospital to treat wounded Palestinians on the Gaza border. Hamas denied ill Palestinians access to these humanitarian medical services, which operated empty for weeks.