Israeli Aid to Nepal
Last Saturday, minutes after Israel heard the news of the
devastating earthquake that hit Nepal, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, set up a
24/7 Emergency and Crisis Management Center with the goal of providing an
immediate and appropriate response to the situation and coordinate rescue,
medical and humanitarian aid to Israelis, Nepalese and others who were caught
up in the disaster.
According to an MFA bulletin issued Monday, “the first
Israeli rescue plane, from the Home Front Command, landed in Kathmandu on
Sunday (26 April) and brought back to Israel the first group of Israelis,
including newborn babies. A Magen David Adom plane landed in Nepal, also on
Sunday, and delivered a delegation of doctors and paramedics who settled in at
the Chabad House. The plane returned to Israel with another group of Israelis.”
Three IDF air force planes arrived in Nepal on Monday
loaded with emergency aid. They also brought back more stranded Israelis.
Two El Al planes - one cargo and one passenger – arrived
on Tuesday carrying a team from the Israeli Ministry of Health and a large
delegation of Home Front Command staff - more than two hundred doctors, sanitation
engineers, machinery technicians and others - as well as medical equipment
(portable monitor, oxygen tanks, medical ventilators, medicines, X-ray
machines, resuscitation kits) and engineering equipment. After unloading their
cargo, the planes returned to Israel carrying more Israeli travelers.
According to one witness at the airport, while preparing
the planes for the return flights, the Israeli crews handed out sandwiches,
oranges and water to the hundreds of stranded travelers, of all nations, that
were waiting desperately to be rescued. Several Nepalese officials commented
that no other country cares for its citizens as Israel does.
As of Tuesday morning, out of hundreds of Israelis
currently still in Nepal, several dozen are unaccounted for. The Department for
Israelis abroad at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem is leading the efforts to
establish contact with them.
The New Israeli Government
Not yet! As of Tuesday, April 28, with only 6 days left
of the 14 day extension that President Rivlin gave Prime Minister designate
Netanyahu, the coalition is yet to be finalized.
Not that there is a shortage of candidates. With
Netanyahu needing at least 61 sitting Knesset members to form a coalition, there
are plenty of potential “wannabe” ministers and deputy ministers in the parties
considered ideological “natural partners” in a right-wing government, to give
him at least 61, and possibly 67 seats.
But there’s the problem: Everyone wants a “job” or
control over a ministry or committee that will allow them to spread patronage
and benefits to their constituents…at a cost of tens of millions of dollars
each year…all from the small national taxpayer funded coffers, which also have
to support crucial government sectors like the IDF and national security, as
well as education, power, infrastructure, development and more.
While Netanyahu has not yet formed a coalition, bits of
information leaked from the negotiations indicate that he might be close.
For example: until the last Knesset changed a “Basic
(constitutional) Law”, past Israeli governments have included dozens of
ministers, deputies, and “ministers without portfolio”. But according to the new law, as of this
election the Israeli government can only have eighteen ministers and four
deputy ministers.
However Netanyahu indicated on Monday that the Knesset might
have to pass a new law that would enable him to form a broader coalition, with
up to twenty two ministers and six deputy ministers, in order to satisfy the
ambitions of potential partners who refuse to compromise on their demands for
portfolios, personal benefits, and constituent-related budgets. If that happens
then the so-called “cost of democracy” in Israel will go through the roof…
US Support for Israel
Sunday night I was encouraged by the warm, enthusiastic
and unreserved support for Israel that reverberated through the packed ballroom
during AIPAC’s annual event in Dallas. And I’m not talking about the very
impressive gathering of over 1,200 local AIPAC members and supporters, whose
very participation in this signature evening speaks volumes about their support
for our historical and eternal Jewish homeland.
No – what encouraged me were the statements by the
politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, seniors and juniors. While they
all made the obligatory comments about “shared values” of democracy, human
rights, justice and America’s long-term commitment to Israel’s security, I was pleasantly
surprised that most of them, from both parties, specifically mentioned the
current and immediate threat to Israel, the U.S. and the Middle East from a
nuclear armed Iran.
All agreed that a diplomatic resolution that prevents
Iran from ever reaching that stage is preferable…and that Congress should be
involved before a bad deal with the extreme Islamist, terror sponsoring Republic
of Iran is signed.
This brings
me to the “Bad Deal”
Last Friday Iran and the P5+1 negotiators, led by the
U.S., renewed talks in Vienna. After the
first round Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs
Abbas Araqchi said that the US negotiating delegation gave the Iranian nuclear
team “very useful” explanations regarding the removal of anti-Iran sanctions.
He could be referring to the desperate attempt by the US, according to the Wall
Street Journal and several news agencies, to bribe Iran into signing a
worthless and unenforceable “deal” by agreeing to release $30-50 billion of
funds, frozen under the UN Security Council sanctions resolution, immediately…and
with only an Iranian highly questionable “promise” to maybe comply…maybe.
What a week this has been:
- Israel projecting a bright and shining “light to the nations”, despite Bibi’s obstacles to forming a coalition and tension rises in the North and South.
- US grassroots political support for Israel’s security (at least in DFW) is at its height.
- The weak US led P5+1 appears to be abandoning the pledge that “no deal with Iran is better than a bad deal” in favor of “any deal at any cost”.
This week we’re two out of three…let’s see what next week brings.
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