Port-au-Prince, Haiti — The crowd broke out in cheers as an ambulance pulled out of what was once Haiti’s main tax administration office, carrying a survivor rescued from the wreckage by an Israeli team four days after this city’s devastating earthquake.
“Bravo!” the onlookers shouted. “We love you, Israel.”
It was a picture-perfect moment for Israeli public diplomacy.
But Major Zohar Moshe, commander of the rescue team, dismissed the notion. “It is not about that, it is about saving lives,” he said.
Nevertheless, on the ground was a retinue of Israelis dedicated to making sure people heard about their country’s humanitarian mission and spreading the word. Press officers from the Israeli military were flown in, as were photographers and a video team to document the work of Israeli medical and rescue personnel. They distributed daily footage to the press. Representatives of Israeli and foreign media were embedded with the group, and other reporters were invited.
A day after the Israeli field hospital opened, two Israeli officers in uniforms canvassed the row of TV producers sitting in their broadcast positions along the city airport’s runway. “We’re telling them about our hospital,” one said.
But no prodding was needed. The press swarmed to the Israeli site, and what they saw impressed them.
A CNN report, widely circulated on the web by
pro-Israel activists, showed an injured Haitian in a rudimentary makeshift hospital, his doctor telling the camera that if he doesn’t make it to a hospital where he could undergo surgery shortly, he would die. A quick cut followed to the site of the well-equipped Israeli hospital.
“I’m just amazed,” the CNN reporter, Elizabeth Cohen, declared. “This is like another world compared to the other [makeshift] hospital.” Later in the report she asked how it could be that the United States did not set up a hospital in Haiti while “the Israelis came from the other side of the world.”
In less than a week in Haiti, 250 Israeli doctors, nurses and rescue workers not only saved numerous lives of people trapped and wounded — they did more for their country’s image than marketing experts have in years.
“It’s like winning the lottery for doing the right thing,” said Jennifer Laszlo-Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project, a Washington-based pro-Israel media group, describing the positive impact of Israeli PR efforts.
Against the backdrop of the destruction of Port-au-Prince’s health-care facilities, Israel’s relief mission and the elaborate medical facility it set up stood out as crucial. But the effect of this wave of positive attention on Israel’s international stature is not yet clear.
Three days after the earthquake, Port-au-Prince’s general hospital was of little help to the sick and injured seeking care. Dozens stood outside the closed facility, where guards kept them from entering. Medical treatment — if wrapping a crushed limb in bandages and sending the patient off qualifies as treatment — was given outside, on the pavement amidst shouts and weeping.
Relatives of Haitians who perished in the earthquake attempted to bring bodies of loved ones to the morgue, located in the same building, only to be told that there was no more room. Despite the guards’ warnings that the morgue was closed, two men drove up in a pickup truck and dropped two bodies covered in sheets on the ground. Then they drove on.
The Israeli hospital, located on the grounds of a soccer field near the city’s airport, provided a much different experience. Although its wards are no more than army tents with folding beds, the field hospital has advanced surgical facilities, X-ray and imagery machines, and a full staff of professional doctors and nurses from Israel’s top military and civilian hospitals.
The stark contrast between the Israeli-operated hospital and any other medical facility in Port-au-Prince (including a Belgian hospital that was abandoned by its staff due to deteriorating security in the city) made Israel’s public relations work easy.
“As long as people don’t think that the motivation for this was PR and understand that it is a humanitarian cause, then you can’t go wrong,” said Steve Rabinowitz, a Washington-based communications consultant who described the boost Israel’s mission gave to the country’s image as a “home run.”
“It makes people see Israelis as human beings,” said Laszlo-Mizrahi. Her media-tracking data show that since the Israeli team began work in Haiti, thousands of positive news stories about Israel have appeared in the European press, and even more in America.
Experts see such reports as useful in countering a one-dimensional image that views Israel only through the prism of its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
“In Europe, Israel’s image is defined by the Goldstone report, so news items like those coming from Haiti can definitely help change that image,” said an Israeli official referring to the United Nations report that accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.
If any suspicion of an Israeli ulterior motive existed, the lines of Haitians waiting outside the hospital compound for treatment, with nowhere else to turn, stilled most of these claims.
In the Israeli media, there was but one lone, if well known, dissenter:
“A few days before Israeli physicians rushed to save the lives of injured Haitians, the authorities at the Erez checkpoint prevented 17 people from passing through in order to get to a Ramallah hospital for urgent corneal transplant surgery,” wrote Israeli columnist Akiva Eldar of the newspaper Haaretz on January 18. “Perhaps they voted for Hamas.”
“The remarkable identification (among Israelis) with the victims of the terrible tragedy in distant Haiti only underscores the indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza,” he lamented, referring to Israel’s tight blockade of the territory.
It may be that the world will refocus soon enough on those scenes. The last time positive news reports about Israel peaked was in August 2005, during its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. That attitude was short-lived and eventually gave way to widespread criticism over Israel’s policy in Gaza.
And during the first Gulf War in 1992, public diplomacy experts marveled at the outpouring of international sympathy for Israel while it was under attack by Iraqi missiles. Shortly after, however, Washington did not hesitate to pressure Israel into agreeing to attend the Madrid peace conference.
Jim Gerstein, a Democratic pollster and strategist, cautioned that sympathy toward Israel thanks to its humanitarian contribution does not necessarily translate into a change in political attitudes. “The Israeli team in Haiti is demonstrating to the world the remarkable compassion and talents of the Israeli people,” Gerstein said. “When it comes to their understanding of the conflict with the Palestinians, observers tend to focus on the developments on the ground and draw their conclusions independent of these tremendous contributions.”
In Port-au-Prince, this debate seemed all but irrelevant. In the Israeli field hospital, an elderly man lying in bed after undergoing an amputation was asked by reporters if his views on Israel had changed. “I never thought of Israel before,” he replied.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com
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Thank you Israel on behalf of all Haitians.
Israel has without question been in dire need of an image makeover.
Israel sent more than 200 Israeli doctors, nurses, soldiers and volunteers to Haiti soon after the gravity of the damage in Haiti became apparent. Within two days of arriving, the Israeli delegation had set up a field hospital, administered emergency medical aid from the Port-au-Prince stadium and rescued over a dozen living survivors from collapsed buildings.
Jewish state's rapid and extensive response has hardly gone unnoticed by the country's media, diplomats and foreign advocates. Updates from Israel's delegation in Haiti have been sent regularly to hundreds of Israeli and foreign journalists via email, video, blogs and social networking sites.
Journalists were even sent a video of ZAKA volunteers somewhat unsuccessfully leading a group of Haitians in singing the Jewish song "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem", literally meaning "We have brought peace upon you."
But while praising Israel's response, critics say Israeli attempts to accent their aid to Haiti have been over-the-top, and accuse Israeli public relations officials of exploiting the disaster for political ends.
"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."
Dr Donchin told of an incident in which the head of one of the delegations to a disaster area was asked to move oxygen tanks and doctors to make room for an additional TV crew, and argued that Israel had become a state that "insists on performing a good deed each day and helping the old lady cross the road, even against her will. "Like Everest climbers, Israel places her national flag at the peak to prove that the site has been conquered," Dr Donchin wrote in a Tuesday opinion piece in Israel's leading Hebrew news site YNet. "To publicize this physical achievement, media representatives, photographers, Israeli Defense Forces Spokespeople and others are brought along with the delegation." "Are we going to see the commander of the Israeli delegation on the evening news beside a compound with 500 chemical toilets? Unlikely," he wrote. "It is much more "media friendly" to show an Israeli hospital, Stars of David and of course the staff of dedicated doctors and nurses wearing their uniforms with an Israeli flag on the lapel."
600 readers responded to the article in its first 24 hours online and a number of other Israeli publications ran opinion pieces Monday and Tuesday accusing Israel of using the disaster for publicity points or of ignoring a humanitarian disaster on the country's front step in Gaza.
MORE:
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27779
Stephanie Gutman answers this ideology in her article: Israel Builds a Field Hospital in Haiti. Anti-Zionists not fooled:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/stephaniegutmann/
Actually the article is here:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/stephaniegutmann/100022827/israel-builds-a-field-hospital-in-haiti-anti-zionists-not-fooled/
Thank You Israel for this needful help.
Politics aside I am so impressed with Israel's rescue techniques and medical field hospitals with state of the art sergical and monitoring equipment. Their communication sattelites provided wireless phone connections and also video and was shared with many, many countries who needed transfer of information to their respective governments. From the video, on YOUTUBE, it was evident that Israeli came to help without delay and were prepaired much better then any counter parts including USA. When credit is due and it is my hats are off to ISRAEL!!!! Thank you!!
I am disppointed in Canadian media who have given almost no coverage to Israel's help in Haiti, as well as other Jewish organizations who have sent aid. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., or CBC, a publicly owned network, has not mentioned the Israeli field hospital once. It is starting to look like deliberate avoidance, which to me, smacks of anti-semitism.
Michael S. You should be ashamed of yourself. To take something so genuine and wonderful and twist it into a something sinister is the work of a chassic academic antisemite. And the doctor which you quote...he sure managed to get HIS opionion into the media, as did you...and myself. Why should Israel not speak to the reporters, who walk around wondering why Israel is the only one really helping? The Palestinians are well versed in media manipulation, so perhaps u think Israel's intentions are the same? Well, they are not. Just like in every other disaster, they came to help. And as for the idiot doctor u quote, it's been over a week now...people are dying...anymore "assessing of the situAtion" and perhaps they'll be no one victims left to use the 500 toilets. Water purification? That would also be great. And that's providable by just about anyone. They need doctors, medicine, and help, too.
The help is great, but the way in which it is so purposefully milked for good PR (canvassing reporters, for God's sake, don't they have more worthwhile things to do there?) is a bit sickening. It diminishes the goodwill Israel would have gained had it behaved in a more dignified way.
Dear Arny Handelman, there are doctors and rescue workers from many organizations and from every developed country in the world helping out in Haiti (and from many other countries as well). The first medical teams in place seem to have been from Argentina, the largest hospital is apparently run by Medecins Sans Frontieres, and so on and so forth. You cannot seriously expect the Canadian media to give special attention to the efforts of one country among the many. Do yourself a favor and do not discover anti-Semitism where there is none.
To Michael Santomauro:Israel is there first and foremost to save as many lives as they can. Because of their extensive experience with field hospitals they could do best for Haitians by supplying their doctors, surgeons and nurses bringing all equipment necessary to do the first thing that should be done in a rescue operation... save the dying and injured. Let the Americans haul in the water!!!
Bravo for Israel, proving again her net worth to the world's community of countries.
By the way Michael, I suppose that you applaud the Arab nations for not tooting their horns to the world for all their efforts to assist Haiti and her population.
Oh, wait! There's no horn there to toot!! The Arab nations did nothing! Nada! Dick all!!
People were in need, and Israel met that need. I have a new respect for the country. If the the media response came with weak help or shoddy doctors, I would find it repulsive. However, Israel has provided the best care around and they have a responsibility to represent themselves favorably. I think they've done something incredible, and I'm glad to hear about it through the media.
There is nothing mutually exclusive about saving lives and making sure the world knows about it, which actually may save more lives once the world stops encouraging the Muslim terrorist in murdering innocent people.
Israel's actions in Haiti have received almost no publicity. Israel has sent teams to various parts of the world before and gotten no publicity whatsoever. This time, although a tiny bit of publicity has occurred, about half of it is negative, saying Israel is trying to show off how good it is. No matter what Israel does, it remains the most hated country on earth.
Of course the saving of life is a gift to humanity.
Saving a few lives in Haiti is no absolution for the taking of lives in Gaza - to suggest as the Israeli media is doing cheapens what the doctors are doing and involves an evil calculus.
One wonders if the doctors in Haiti are the same doctors who have provided medical support ot to torture in Israel's prisons or if they are part of the brave members of Physician for Human Rights (Israel) who have denounced the actions of some of their colleagues and the silent complicity of the majority.
Thank you so much, Israel, for providing such efficient and quick help to Haiti! Israeli teams are always among the first ones to help in global disasters although Israel has enough problems in its own country. Israeli helpers should be very proud of themselves.
IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HELP THE WORLD... START IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD... GOOD JOB, SAVE 6 PEOPLE BUT KILL 6000 THE NEXT DAY.... YOU PEOPLE HAVE NO SHAME WHATSOEVER! BUT SERIOUSLY YOUR WAY TOO OBVIOUS!
In the mind of an antisemite,if you are an Israeli no matter how much good you do , it doesn't matter. They will say anything to discredit you or condemn you. The comment about the incursion in Gaza. What did they expect the Israelis to do , keep enduring the daily rockets. Rockets firing indiscriminately, not caring where they landed and who they killed. During world war 2 the US and our allies dropped bombs in Germany. Thousands were killed, innocent women and children. War is a dirty business and you can't blame the Israeli's for doing what has to be done.Israel is at war with the very segments of the palestinians who are trying to wipe Israel off the map. It will never happen, so they should decide to make peace now.
I agree completely with Zohar Moshe! Israel ought to do this, as it is doing very admirably, because it is about saving people's lives and that's the right thing to do, not out of PR concerns.
Thank you, to Israel and the Israeli team for their unbelievable humanitarian aid and offering the best medical care, swiftly and efficiently, to those in desperate need. Israelis donated money in unproportiate numbers to Haitians , considering their small size, their contribution deserves extra praise and this has been the case during all humanitarian disasters. Why shouldn't Israel get credit for leading one of the most generous and medically efficient efforts in haiti? Israel not only demonstrates an unequivocal response during natural disasters in foreign countries, but also offers medical care to Arabs, Lebanese, and Palestinians who cannot get treated by their own because they are set on waging war, blasting rockets into Israel, and will not recognize Israel's basic right to exist. And the world critisizes Israel at every attempt at self defending its citizens against terroist attacks, but fails to paint the picture in reality that Israel is doing all it can to defend itself, and at the same time offering peace to Hamas/Al Quaida who refuse at all turns. Israel from day 1 has defended its right to exist, so it's about time the world recognizes how Israel is a nation dedicated to aiding the world and being a contributor to humanity
It is true that Israel has a history of providing relief operations during times of emergency. They provided relief efforts during the 2004 tsunami at the invitation of some of the affected governments.
It's also true that many of the relief efforts have humanitarian motives mixed with political and PR motives, including Israel, the U.S., and Cuba. The Soviet Union used to provide medical relief.
So I'd give the Israelis credit for their useful efforts, just as I'd give the U.S. and the Cubans credit.
Of course, it doesn't excuse the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, any more than it excuses the Cuban or the U.S. human rights violations.
Obviously israel is doing that for marketing , why israel flew for thousands miles while beseige million and half resident in a big concentraion camp and rocked/levelled entire hospital and school and UN facitilites of gaza and assualt any releif capmaign try to break the zionist seige and the indiscrimnate and collective punishment?
israel is applying the slow and silent death upon the gazans in a way doesnt attract media attention, and denied lotsa cases for urgent and emergency surgeries and transplantation.
it's very clear when the wolve tries to disguise as a sheep
Let's hope the inhabitants of Gaza get the same level of humanitarian assistance from the very wunnerful Judenstaat.
And why not fly a few thousand Haitians into Israel to become good Zionist citizens? After all, those Peruvian Indians were instant converts-- why discriminate?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/aug/07/israel1
Voodoo and atheistic Moloch-worship can have a constructive dialogue!
www,nkusa.org
John Brighton:Your view that the enormous assistance that Israel is providing Haiti is merely a "marketing" ploy?You seem to avoid the facts they got to that country with the "firstest" with the "mostest", despite having to travel longer distances than many other countries.The Israeli efforts saved many lives,provided advanced medical care for the most difficult of medical procedures, and provided the most sophisticated medical field hospital in Haiti. The assertion that Israel has "beseiged million and a half residents in a concentration camp,""assualt(sic) any releif(sic) campmaign(sic), and has effected "indiscriminate and collective punishment" clearly demonstrates your baffling ignorance of the state of war caused by the Hamas government thugs in their efforts to destroy the Jewish State.Since I can't guess what fills the empty space between your ears,you apparently are somewhat disappointed by the Israeli victory in Operation Cast Lead.Reference is made to the statement offered by Col.Richard Kemp,former British forces commander in Afghanistan,who held that the IDF had taken "extraordinary measures" to warn Palestinians to evacuate areas occupied by terrorists before the IDF attacked.He noted that the IDF had dropped 2 million leaflets and made more than 100,000 telephone calls in advance of offensives.He recognized that despite Israeli warnings innocent victims were killed.Col. Kemp held that there have been mistakes by American,British and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in the killing of innocent civilians.These mistakes are not war crimes.Col.Kemp asserted that the IDF is the most moral army in the history of warfare.