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Jan 26, 2010

The Zionization of Disaster Relief

 

JAN 21, 2010

The Zionization of Disaster Relief

Port-au-Hasbara

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 01:31 PM PST

Lots o' Haiti hasbara. O, where to begin?

–"Very interesting piece on ABC News the other night. Diane Sawyer and their medical correspondent did an extended and unflattering comparison between the activities of the Israeli medical team in Haiti and the lack of same by the U.S. military," writes Mike Desch. "Of course, it is great that the IDF responded to this disaster but the piece had a real feel of p.r. to it as well. Israel's Hasbara crew understands that they have a huge p.r. problem post-Gaza and so they are always on the lookout for opportunities to present Israel in a more favorable light."

–Cynical? Here's an Israeli doctor making the same analysis:

"The extreme right wing in Israel is using the Haiti operation to reframe the fallout from the Goldstone report in the eyes of the world," Dr Yoel Donchin, an Israeli anesthesiologist and a veteran of Israeli rescue operations told The Media Line. "They know the Haitians are not part of the agenda and this is just for propaganda. But if it's good for Israel they don't care."

"You can't save everyone, and anyone who has studied mass casualty situations knows that the first thing you have to do is not rush in but to send a small team to evaluate what is the best way to help in the long run," he said. "So the fact that Israel wants to race to be the first to be there means nothing in the big picture, because Israel is usually the first to arrive but also the first to leave."

"If, for example, Israel were to bring water purification systems and chemical toilets it would be much more helpful," Dr Donchin said. "But their logic is that then it wouldn't get on the news."

Richard Silverstein has a translation of Dr Donchin's op-ed on this theme in Yediot here.     

–And today I received the following email: "HOW MANY NEWS REPORTS HAVE YOU SEEN ABOUT THIS??????? Watch this news video from Haiti. It'll make you proud to be an Israeli and a Jew." Well I'm not an Israeli, but the link is to a CNN report by medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen about an Israeli field hospital in Haiti that is doing work other harum-scarum clinics are not. "I'm just amazed, I'm amazed by what is here… It's just amazing," says Cohen (and yes I wonder if she's pro-Israel).

–The other night on Hardball, Andrea Mitchell twice referred to Israel as providing important aid to Haiti, in her list of countries helping out. (I found it disturbing. I thought, She's Jewish and powerful, why is she thumping the hasbara).

THE ZIONIZATION OF DISASTER RELIEF

Didn't know there was anything particularly Zionist about providing disaster relief?  You learn something new every day.  This is a story of exploiting the suffering of poor, defenseless Haitians on behalf of Israeli triumphalism.


A baby named Israel...who, if he reaches adulthood, would never be welcome in Israel (IDF)

Sol Salbe translated an eye-opening column from Yediot by an Israeli doctor who was an integral member of all Israeli international disaster response teams until recently.  Then he made the mistake of writing a mildly critical statement about Israeli disaster relief efforts.  As a result, he was relieved of his obligation for further IDF service and further participation in the disaster relief program.  The op ed is so revealing (and not yet available online in English) I'm going to quote large sections.  An explanatory note–at Israel's Haiti field hospital, they delivered what the Israeli PR flacks called "the first baby since the earthquake."  The medical staff urged the woman to name her baby "Israel" and she was only to eager to oblige.  Another Israeli PR coup!


Public Relations instead of saving lives

Sending portable toilets to Haiti would have been a better option, but this does not provide good photo opportunities. Israeli missions to disaster areas in the past have shown that such activity was in vain.

Yoel Donchin

I received my final exemption from the army after I published an article which said that the State of Israel acts like the proverbial Boy Scout, who insists on doing a good deed daily and helping an old lady cross the road even against her will. How ungrateful of me to publish such a column when I had participated in almost all the rescue missions to overseas disaster areas! Suddenly I am no longer suitable to take part in such heroic endeavours. But in light of the experience I gained in such missions…we have wasted our effort.

Generally speaking, we start preparing for such a mission within hours of the announcement of a natural disaster. Most often the Israeli mission team is the first one to land in the area. Like those who climb Mount Everest, it plants its flag on the highest peak available, announcing  to all and sundry that the site has been conquered. And in order to ensure that the public is aware of this sporting achievement, the mission is accompanied by media representatives, photographers, an IDF spokesman's office squad and others.

I understood the purpose perfectly when the head of one of the delegations to a disaster zone was asked whether oxygen tanks and a number of doctors could be removed to make room for another TV network's representatives with their equipment. (With unusual courage, the delegation head refused!)

The lesson learnt from the activities of those missions is that when there is a natural disaster, or when thousands of people are expelled from their homes by force, as happened in Kosovo, survivors may benefit from international assistance only if it responds to the region's specific needs. Also assistance must be coordinated among the various aid agencies.

The competitive race to a disaster zone imposes a huge strain on the local health and administration authorities. Airports are clogged by transport planes unloading a lot of unnecessary but bulky equipment. Doctors and rescue organisations seek ways to utilise single carriageway roads and in fact they are a burden.   The correct way to help is to send a small advance force to gauge the dimensions of the disaster…

Would they still call that child Israel?

Three components are crucial:  shelter, water and food — these things are crucial in order to save the largest number of people. Water purification equipment, tents, basic food rations are needed. But they do lack the desired dramatic effect. If we went down that track we would miss out on seeing that child who was born with the assistance of our physicians. Most certainly, the excited mother wouldn't give her child (who knows if he will ever reach a ripe old age?) the name Israel or that of the obstetrician or nurse. (Would he get citizenship because he was born in Israeli territory? There would be many opposed to that.) The drama is indeed classy, but its necessity is doubtful.

It being Israel, our current force contains a Kashrut supervisor, security personnel and more.

In the present disaster, which is of a more massive scale than anything we have encountered to date, the need is not so much for a field hospital but field, ie portable, toilets. There is more of a need for digging equipment to dig graves and sewage pipes.

A country which wants to provide humanitarian aid without concern for its media image should send whatever is required by the victims, and not whatever it wants to deliver. But would the evening news show the commander of the Israeli mission at the compound with 500 chemical toilets? Unlikely. It is much more media savvy to show an Israeli hospital, replete with stars of David and of course the dedicated doctors and nurses, dressed in their snazzy uniforms with an Israeli flag on the lapel.

…It is quite likely that financial assistance commensurate with Israel's resources would be preferable to the enormous expense and complicated logistics involved in the maintenance of a medical unit in the field…

But apparently a minute of TV coverage is much more important…and in fact Israel is using disasters as [military] field training in rescue and medical care. After a fortnight, the mission will reportedly return to Israel. To be truly effective a field hospital needs to remain for two or three months, but that's a condition that Israel cannot meet.

…It is only in the Israeli aid compound in Haiti that large signs carrying the donor country's name hang for all to see.

Prof. Yoel Donchin is the director of the Patient Safety Unit at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem. 
Translated by Sol Salbe, who directs the Middle East News Service for the Australian Jewish Democratic Society.

If after reading this you're feeling either slightly soiled or angry, I urge you to perform a truly constructive, selfless act in reply to Israel's self-promotional puffery. Make a gift to American Jewish World Service or Doctors Without Borders, who are each doing acts of mercy without thought of benefit to themselves or any narrow political movement.  In fact, DWB's flights of precious, desperately needed medical supplies have beenrepeatedly turned away by American forces controlling incoming air traffic, in favor of military equipment deemed needed for the occupation which seems to be taking shape there.

Somehow Israeli field hospitals and all their support equipment manage to get through this bottleneck.  Could it be?  Nah, I didn't think so.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/01/19/the-zionization-of-disaster-relief/

+++

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com
New Release: Debating The Holocaust by Thomas Dalton

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Holocaust was a Jewish invention, says top Polish bishop

 


International

Holocaust was a Jewish invention, says top Polish bishop

25.01.2010 08:41

UPDATE - Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, one of Poland's most prominent religious figures, is reported to have told an Italian Catholic news web site that the Holocaust was a "Jewish invention". The bishop says his remarks were "taken out of context" however.

 

"The Holocaust, as such, is a Jewish invention [invenzione ebraica]. We could just as well establish a day of remembrance to the numerous victims of communism, when Catholics and Christians were persecuted," he told the Pontifex.Roma web site on Sunday.

 

In remarks that will outrage Jews the world over, Bishop Pieronek said that in his opinion the memory of the Holocaust is often used as a "propaganda weapon" by Israel.

 

The Krakow-based bishop said: "Undoubtedly, the majority of those who died in the concentration camps were Jews, but also on the list were Poles, Gypsies, Italians and Catholics. So do not steal this tragedy in the name of propaganda."

 

"But they, the Jews, have a good press, because the powerful have the financial resources - extremely powerful with the unconditional support of the United States. And this promotes a kind of arrogance, which I consider to be unbearable," Bishop Pieronek continued.

 

The bishop expressed his opinion that the Palestinians are victims of injustice at the hands of the Israelis.

"Seeing the photographs of the [Gaza] wall we can conclude that a colossal injustice has been committed against the Palestinians, who are treated like animals and their rights are being violated."

"Let them establish [the international lobby] a Memorial Day for them also."

 

Out of context

 

Bishop Pieronek, however, says the interview printed on the Italian web site bares little resemblance to the one that he gave the journalist.

 

"I have not seen the printed text of the interview, which I have given but have not authorized. But if I were to believe in what I hear from the media then it looks as though the final form of the interview was the idea of the journalist that I had spoken to, as the text is full of vague statements."

 

The controversy comes Just two days before Holocaust remembrance Day on January 27 and prime minister of Israel Benyamin Netanyahu's visit to Poland for the 65 anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. (pg)

 

Source: PAP

--

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com
New Release: Debating The Holocaust by Thomas Dalton

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Jan 25, 2010

Paul Grubach on the Mark Weber issue

 

January 25, 2010

Dear Richard,
 
You make some very good points.  You are right, we would all love to hear Mark Weber's side of the story on all of this.  The problem, however, is Mark Weber's recent silence.  He has been silent about all of the recent news items about him. 
 
And I totally agree with you on another issue.  Mark Weber does write outstanding articles.  I personally wish the man would write many books, as he has (in my opinion) exceptional scholarly talent.  But once again, the problem here is with Mark Weber.  He is very lazy, and his entire career has been plagued by an inability to get work done.  For example, years ago he was supposed to write an important book, The Final Solution: Legend and Reality.  He never could finish the book, even though he had ample opportunity to do so.  His slowed production and non-productivity have driven the IHR to the point of disaster.
 
In my opinion, under the appropriate direction and leadership, Mark Weber could have been a great historian.  He is an outstanding writer, debater and speaker.  The tragedy occurred when he took on a leadership role, something for which he has no aptitude for whatsoever.  When Weber assumed a leadership role and he was left to do as he pleased, the dark side of Mark Weber emerged: the laziness and inability to get his work done led his IHR to the point of extinction.
 
Let us hope that Mark responds to and overcomes all the recent criticism, and in the future uses his outstanding talents more productively. 
 
Paul Grubach
 
 
         Richard writes:
 

Before anyone jumps to a conclusion about Weber, I would like to hear his side of the story.  I don't think I know anyone who always does the right thing and is never wrong.  Weber's articles are of good quality and I hope he writes more of them.  I think Goebbels' diary has come up here before.  If I remember correctly, there its authenticity was in doubt.


Begin forwarded message:

This kind of stuff is inevitable and Weber surely foresaw it. Which again raises the question of his motives. A pretty sad epitaph for the IHR.


James

=====

On Jan 23, 2010, at 11:04 AM, grub222@aol.com wrote:


 

Leading Holocaust Denier Admits Holocaust Happened


Mark Weber: comment on the abandonment of his revisionist fight
by Lawrence Auster
    

--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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Haiti and reparations.

 


From: Manuel Sotil <msotil@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 6:03 PM
Subject: Haiti and reparations.


After gaining its independence from France, Haiti had to pay its former master, France, reparations for the loss France suffered.

It was a huge sum of money by any standard. In addition,  France secured for itself preferential treatment for commerce with its former colony. The sum was equivalent to 21 billion dollars of todays's money. Even when it was eventually reduced, Haiti had to borrow the money from French banks and was only able to pay off the loans in 1947!

Had Haiti ignored and not paid France's demands, France would not have recognized Haiti's independence and the threat of invasion and re-colonization would have remained hanging over Haiti's head as a sword of Damocles. France was at that time in the 19th Century one of the world superpowers. 

And so much for the Monroe doctrine of the US. It needed not to apply to Haiti. As is, the US did not recognized Haiti as a free country until 1863. The example Haiti set for US' own slave population was not one to be commended, much less countenanced.

The loss claimed by France consisted primarily of the slaves who had freed themselves. France demanded compensation from Haiti for its loss of slave manpower.

I am not sure if the word "chutzpah" was in popular use then, but if not, this would have been a good early example.

So much for the theme Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité much blandished by the French to preach to and browbeat others with.

I think there is a strong case for the Haitian people to demand the right to re-settle in France en-masse given that their country is hardly a livable one and is, after all, the creation and responsibility of France. ---Manuel Sotil


http://www.nathanielturner.com/haitimakescaseforreparations.htm

Haiti Makes Its Case for Reparations

By J. Damu 

San Francisco Bay View

 The meter is running at $34 per second

 

You've got to hand it to Haiti. Not only was it the world's first country of enslaved workers to stand up and demand their freedom and independence; now they are the world's first country to stand up to their former slavery-era master, France, and demand the return of its stolen wealth.

Everyone say "Amen."

Haiti's president and other government officials claim their country was held up at gunpoint in broad daylight in 1825 and now they want the admitted thief, France, to replace the stolen wealth to the tune of $21.7 billion. his, despite massive attempts, well documented elsewhere, by the United States and world lending institutions to destabilize and overthrow the democratically elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Government officials also say, due to forced efforts to hand over its wealth in a timely manner to France, the coerced payments so distorted and stunted the economy, Haiti feels the effects to this day. They also say, due to those efforts, Haiti became saddled with a form of class oppression that resembles racism.

In a soon to be published booklet provided to a U.S. reporter by the foreign press liaison to President Jean Bertrand Aristide, Haitian government officials dissect the 1825 "agreement" that initially forced Haiti to pay to France 150 million francs in exchange for liberty.

The booklet, like Haiti's restitution claim, is based largely on the research of Dr. Francis St. Hubert, a member of the government's Haiti Restitution Commission.

"I did most of my research in New York at the Columbia University Library and the Schomburg Center," Dr. Hubert said by phone from Port-au-Prince.

"We are pursuing this case from three different angles. We are doing publicity and educational campaigns, we are pursuing our claims through the diplomatic community, and we are preparing a legal case," he said.

"Haiti's claim is not really for reparations for slavery," said Ira Kurzban, Miami immigration attorney and Haiti's chief counsel in the U.S., "but for restitution specifically that happened in 1825. It is based on the French government's efforts to extract 150 million French francs (which is equal to $21 billion today) from an economy the French knew couldn't afford it, through the use of force. This is impermissible under international law."

"I can't tell you how we plan to proceed legally," he said by telephone.  The Haitians will make their own announcement when they are ready, he said.

According to the booklet, which will soon be published under the name of  the Haiti Restitution Commission, following the 1804 revolution that expelled France, Haiti was divided into two districts, northern and southern, but was re-united following the death of Henri Christophe in 1820.

Under the new president, Jean Pierre Boyer, diplomatic notes began to be exchanged with various French functionaries on the diplomatic recognition of Haiti.

Finally in 1825, France, which was being encouraged by former plantation owners to invade Haiti and re-enslave the Blacks, issued the Royal Ordinance of 1825, which called for the massive indemnity payments. In addition to the 150 million franc payment, France decreed that French ships and commercial goods entering and leaving Haiti would be discounted at 50 percent, thereby further weakening Haiti's ability to pay.

According to French officials at the time, the terms of the edict were non-negotiable. And to impress the seriousness of the situation upon the Haitians, France delivered the demands by 12 warships armed with 500 canons.

The 150-million-franc indemnity was based on profits earned by the colonists, according to a memorandum prepared by their lawyers. In 1789, Saint Domingue - all of Haiti and Santo Domingo - exported 150 million francs worth of products to France. In 1823 Haitian exports to France totaled 8.5 million francs, exports to England totaled 8.4 million francs, and exports to the United States totaled 13.1 million francs, for a total of 30 million francs.

The lawyers then claimed that one half of the 30 million francs went toward the costs of production, leaving 15 million francs as profit. The 15 million franc balance was  multiplied by 10 (10 years of lost revenues for the French colonists due to the war for liberation), which coincidentally totals 150 million francs, the value of exports in 1789.

To make matters worse for Haiti, the French anticipated and planned for Haiti to secure a loan to pay the first installment on the indemnity. Haiti was forced to borrow the 30 million francs from a French bank that then deducted the management fees from the face value of the loan and charged interest rates so exorbitant that after payment was completed, Haiti was still 6 million francs short.

The 150-million-franc indemnity represented France's annual budget and 10 years of revenue for Haiti. One study estimates the indemnity was 55 million more francs than was needed to restore the 793 sugar plantations, 3,117 coffee estates and 3,906 indigo, cotton and other crop plantations destroyed during the war for independence.

By contrast, when it became clear France would no longer be in a position to capitalize on further westward expansion in the Western hemisphere, they agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory, an area 74 times the surface area of Haiti, to the U.S. for just 60 million francs, less than half the Haitian indemnity.

Even though France later lowered the indemnity payment to 90 million francs, the cycle of forcing Haiti to borrow from French banks to make the payments chained the Black nation to perpetual poverty. Haiti did not finish paying her indemnity debt until 1947!

According to the Haitian government's reparations booklet, the immediate consequence of the debt payment on the Haitian population was greater misery. The first thing President Boyer did to help pay the debt was to increase from 12 to 16 percent all tariffs on imports to offset the French discount.

The next step Boyer took was to declare the indemnity to be a national debt to be paid by all the citizens of Haiti. Then he immediately brought into being the Rural Code.

By Haitian First Lady Mildred Aristide's account in her book, "Child Domestic Service in Haiti and its Historical Underpinnings," the Rural Code laid the basis for the legal apartheid between rural and urban society in Haiti. With the Rural Code, the economically dominant class of merchants, government officials and military officers who lived in the cities legally established themselves as Haiti's ruling class.

Under the Rural Code agricultural workers were chained to the land and allowed little or no opportunity to move from place to place. Socializing was made illegal after midnight, and the Haitian farmer who did not own property was obligated to sign a three-, six- or nine-year labor contract with a large property owner. The code also banned small-scale commerce, so that agricultural workers would produce crops strictly for export.

The Haitian Rural Code was all embracing, governing the lives not only of farmers but of children as well.

The Rural Code was specifically designed to regulate rural life in order to more efficiently produce export crops with which to pay the indemnity.

The taxes levied on production were also used predominantly to pay the indemnity and not to build schools nor to provide other social services to the generators of this great wealth, the peasants.

Leading Haitian activists in the U.S. claim that between 1804 and 1990, when President Aristide was first elected, a grand total of 32 high schools were built in Haiti, all within urban settings. Since then, more than 200 have been built, they say, most in the countryside.

To this day, the discrimination between rural and urban areas takes the form of color discrimination by light-skinned Blacks toward darker-skinned Blacks, and it remains intense.

St. Hubert and the national bank compute the exact amount Haiti is demanding from France as $21,685,135,571.48, at 5 percent annual interest.

"France is getting off easy," St. Hubert told a U.S. newspaper. If Haiti charged 7.5 percent interest on the money, "France would owe $4 trillion today and much more tomorrow.

"The French can debate whether they want to pay as long as they like," he said, " but at 5 percent interest, it will cost them $34 per second."

For more information about Haiti or to learn what you can do to support Haiti, call the Haiti Action Committee at (510) 483-7481, write them at HAC,  P.O. Box 2218, Berkeley CA 94702 or visit their website at http://www.haitiaction.org






--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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Fwd: Dear Prof. Alan Dershowitz...About CNN's Elizabeth Cohen

 

JAN. 25, 2010

Professor Alan Dershowitz helps me understand how the ethnic sensibilities got in the way of CNN's 
Elizabeth Cohen when she was reporting from Haiti

Dear Prof. Alan Dershowitz,

Thank you professor Alan Dershowitz for waking-up my brain. It's because of your column yesterday in the Jerusalem Post, Double Standard Watch: For bigots, Israel can do no right that I learned something new about myself. You rascal..! Could it be an inspection of your own brain that you think of me as a racist and a fascist? Are you sure you were not looking in the same mirror as Elizabeth Cohen's when you wrote that about me?

Your link to Elizabeth Cohen's video news report with the word "marvel", caused be to investigate the integrity of her reporting, due to your endorsement of her and your misunderstanding about me. Let's click on "marvel" and go to the video clip, before we continue with my discovery, thanks to you, of her propagandist reporting.

You wrote in your fist two opening paragraphs:

As most objective observers throughout the world marvel at Israel's efficiency and generosity in leading the medical aid efforts in Haiti, some bigots insist on using these efforts as an occasion to continue their attack on the Jewish state. Both the neo-Nazi hard right and the neo-Stalinist hard left cannot help but to demonize Israel, regardless of what Israel does.

The neo-Nazi Web site ReportersNotebook.com features a blog entitled The Zionization of Disaster Relief.  It accuses Israel of "exploiting the suffering of poor, defenseless Haitians on behalf of Israeli Triumphalism." It complains that Israel is rendering medical aid to Haiti only to deflect attention from its crimes against the Palestinians. 

Let's focus on your good friend Elizabeth Cohen 

On the earth shattered grounds in Haiti on Jan.14, Elizabeth Cohen on CNN reports that the nation of Israel would send a field hospital and it would be up and running on the next day on Friday, Jan.15. In the mean time, according to Wikipedia (see LINK) over 150 nations and territories responded to the Haitian earthquake crisis. It was not worth a mention by Ms. Cohen. When Friday arrives and still there is no Israeli field hospital, she repeats the same reporting on Friday night that the Israelis will have a field hospital on Saturday, Jan.16. Why was this more news worthy than the other nations who were on the ground with field hospitals?

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Tweeter reports, the Israeli field hospital and it's 40 doctors arrived Friday morning. With military personnel of 200 to set up the field hospital overnight and into the early hours of Saturday morning before 8:04AM the Israeli field hospital had an ICU, with patients that were brought to them from a nearby adjacent makeshift hospital that was monitored by a Dr. Jennifer Furin. Who we would learn about, from Elizabeth Cohen, in reports she filed the following days and ways on Jan.16 with a video clip, Jan. 17 with a written article, and then Jan.18 with a spliced video clip --- all in a very sneaky way for Zionist propaganda effect.

With all of her anticipation for two nights telling CNN viewers about the arrival of an Israeli field hospital, she does not file a report about the Israeli field hospital's functioning on Saturday, Jan.16. Stretching this story for propaganda purposes until -- Monday Jan.18. 

Why? 

Monday is a bigger news day than a Saturday and definitly a Sunday when folks are watching sports, outside or at family functions. According to the IDF Tweeter reports the Israelis already had an operating field hospital functioning within walking distance from where her CNN crew was reporting unnecessary scary news.

Her live report on Saturday afternoon makes no sense and is contradictory. See my yellow highlights.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this is day three for me at this makeshift hospital of about 300 patients on the U.N. compound near the airport. And I'll tell you, the screams have intensified. We hear them all the time.

These are people with broken bones they are trying to control with morphine, and it's just not cutting it any more. For example, the loudest screams we hear are from people with pelvic fractures where the bones are sticking out of the skin. They need surgery.

And to talk about this I have Dr. Jennifer Furin here with me from Harvard medical school. And Dr. Furin, tell me, what percentage of the patients here need surgery within the next 24 hours?

DR. JENNIFER FURIN, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: Within the next twenty-four hours, approximately 30 percent of the patients in the hospital need immediate surgery or they are going to die.

COHEN: They will die of infections?

FURIN: They will die of infections, malnutrition, and metabolic derangements.

COHEN: The U.S. Department of Health and Human services does have a team that sets up operating rooms for patients like this. What are you hearing? Are they coming any time soon? FURIN: In any situation like this with downed communications, rumor and speculation are the norm. We hear every day that the team will be set up, we'll be able to send patients over there for life-saving and limb-saving surgery. Every day the expectation goes down, the hope, most importantly, of the patients are dashed as there is nowhere to send them for necessary, life-saving surgeries.

COHEN: Is there any hope at all? Is anyone setting up an operating room for these patients at all?

FURIN: I know there is a lot of talk and speculation about it. The only people we've actually seen on the ground doing things are the team from Israel.

COHEN: The team from Israel is building an operating room?

FURIN: Yes. They are building a functioning triage level and surgical field hospital. They are the first ones who will be operating.

COHEN: Thank you, Dr. Jennifer Furin from Harvard medical school.


The news media blitz on Monday (Jan.18)  kept reminding the public that the size of the Israeli field hospital would be able to help 500 patients a day compared to the typical field hospital of 140 patients a day. Yet at the end of the second day on Sunday Jan.17, it only helped 200 patients, this according to the Israeli Tweeter reports--short of 800 patients it could have helped, since it was built for 500 patients a day.

WHY WAS ELIZABETH COHEN MISLEADING CNN VIEWERS THAT THERE WAS CRISIS THAT AMERICAN DOCTORS WERE HAVING? WHY WAS DR. FURIN GIVING ANSWERS TO ELIZABETH COHEN THAT DID NOT MAKE ANY SENSE, ABOUT PATIENTS WERE GOING TO DIE WHEN THEY WERE BEING TRANSPORTED NEXT DOOR TO THE ISRAELI FIELD HOSPITAL SIX HOURS EARLIER? HAVING A CAPACITY TO HELP 500 PATIENTS A DAY, AND THE IDF TWEETER REPORTS THAT IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS ONLY 200 OUT A CAPACITY OF 1000 HAD USED THE FIELD HOSPITAL.

Elizabeth Cohen files an updated written report on her BLOG at 2:28 the next day Sunday Jan.17: "Furin said rumors and talk of setting up an operating room abound, but that nothing has materialized." But this is misleading! Dr. Furin had no need for surgical rooms since the Israeli field hospital was next door, to help (and was helping!) Dr. Furin and her staff for over 30 hours!!!

Here in its entirety is the updated written report she filed at 2:28 on Sunday Jan, 17. Keep in mind, she filed a video report on Jan.18, with Dr. Jennifer Furin, who she interviewd on Saturday Jan.16, saying that since she has been in Haiti she has been sending the most serious cases next door to the Israeli field hospital, and it was done immediately on Saturday morning at 8:04AM or earlier, according to the IDF Tweeter reports.


Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Nearly a third of the patients at a makeshift hospital in earthquake-ravaged Haiti will die without immediate surgery, a doctor warned Saturday.

"Within the next 24 hours, approximately 30 percent of the patients in the hospital need immediate surgery or they're going to die," Dr. Jennifer Furin, from the Harvard Medical School, told CNN of the roughly 300 patients at a makeshift hospital on a United Nations compound near Port-au-Prince's airport.

"They will die of infections, they'll die of dead tissue, they'll die of malnutrition and metabolic derangements," she said.

The screams at this temporary hospital have crescendoed since Tuesday's earthquake, and medical workers futilely tried to ease pain with morphine. The loudest cries came from those with pelvic fractures so severe that their bones protruded through their skin.

Video: Medical facilities scarce
Video: Baby pulled from rubble


Furin said rumors and talk of setting up an operating room abound, but that nothing has materialized.

"Every day as the sun starts to go down, the hope, most importantly, of the patients are dashed, as yet again there's nowhere to send them for these necessary life-saving surgeries," she said.

One team, from the Israel Defense Forces, began setting up a surgical field level hospital at an abandoned athletic field.

"They're the first ones who are going to be operating," Furin said.

The Israeli delegation of 220 arrived at the Antoine Izmery soccer field Friday to begin setting up tents and equipment. Its doctors and other medical personnel anticipated treating about 500 casualties a day. Much of the aid will be focused on helping any survivors of the destroyed U.N. headquarters in the capital, Port-au-Prince.###


Facts that Elizabeth Cohen did not want to report, the nations from the same region as Israel were not noted and also may, may explain why the Israeli field hospital was so underutilized. 

From Jan. 14-16 the same time frame of the Israeli arrival to Haiti this was not reported by CNN:

Jordan: A Jordanian air force plane carrying a military field hospital and 6 tons of food and supplies left Amman on January 14. A second plane carrying Jordanian medics left the following day.

Iran: Iran's Red Crescent society sent 30 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, tents and medicine, on January 16.

Kuwait: Kuwait donated $1 million to relief efforts; the Red Crescent is preparing 100 tons of food, medical supplies, tents and blankets to fly to Haiti.

Lebanon: Lebanon is loading a plane with 25 tons of tents and 3 tons of medical supplies; it leaves tomorrow.

Morocco: Two planes carrying 24 tons of aid left the city of Kenitra on January 16. The Moroccan government has pledged $1 million in aid to Haiti.

Qatar: A Qatari C-17 aircraft loaded with 50 tons of aid left for Port-au-Prince on January 14. The Qatari government also sent a rescue team to set up a field hospital; the Red Crescent will sent another $100,000.

Turkey: Three cargo planes -- carrying search-and-rescue teams, a mobile hospital and aid materials -- left for Haiti on January 16. Another two planes left yesterday. Turkey has also donated $1 million in cash.

United Arab Emirates: The UAE sent two planes loaded with tents, and a team from the UAE's Red Crescent will arrive in the Dominican Republic tomorrow to buy $500,000 worth of supplies and truck them to Haiti. Another 50 tons of emergency supplies will be air-lifted from Abu Dhabi tomorrow.


See how FOX News filed a fair and balanced report (I can't believe I am saying this about Fox News). The report they aired on the same Monday as Ms. Cohen's aired on Jan. 18:

Treating Survivors


Compared to this propaganda news item that you drool and marvel over:

Elizabeth Cohen filed this video report on Monday morning, Jan.18. As you can see she did not air the entire interview with Dr. Furin on Jan.16 or she went back to her on Sunday to interview her with staged questions. She did not want to air the entire interview until Jan.18, for propaganda purposes. Let's "Marvel" at the MARVELOUS clip--again. It is self-explanatory how she spliced the news piece and asked coached and leading questions for the doctors to answer with the kind of answers she wanted.

Extra...extra...extra..read all about it...

01:50  CNN Elizabeth Cohen: 
Haiti Day 6 - No one but the Israelis have come to help any of ...interviews makeshift medical tent personnel on January 18, on Monday morning. Asking Harvard Medical Dr. Jennifer Furin, "Have the Americans set up a field hospital ...(Like Ms. Cohen does not know the State Department passed the baton for Israel to milk the publicity that she helped facilitate.)


Yes Alan....you have a rabid Zionist (like yourself--you rascal) reporter doing what she is supposed to do...make sure the Israeli effort goes to the front of the media bus and everybody else to the back. Nothing new. That's standard operating procedure and the network editors know that. And the name of the game is holding the viewer for the ads to run. The big ad companies who do the Fortune 500 company ad buys are mainly Jewish owned and run, so Jewish Power in the USA have a kind of vertical monopoly. Re-read JJ Goldberg's book: Jewish Power to remind yourself. Or re-read your own books that you allege you wrote.

But with all the mess there is out there, Alan, the general public is not going to care about PR wars. About who did what, or what you think of me and ReportersNotebook.com. 

Maybe the real story is/was the under supply medicines and supplies for the hospitals that were functioning. We may learn that the orthopedic supply chain may not have a ton of excess capacity in it for tens of thousands of victims at one time. Where, like a Walmart warehouse, it could be loaded and shipped down in 12 hours.


Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com
by Thomas Dalton

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