Refugees are pouring out of Syria into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and even Iraq– but not to Israel. Why isn’t more made of this failure of charity? Of course there are reasons, Israel’s alienation from its neighbors. But what kind of reflection is it on Israel that it has such relations that it cannot extend a hand?
Meantime, the LA Times reports that Israel gives the least to developing countries among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (along with two other countries). “Israel gives one-tenth of the U.N.’s target rate.” A tiny percentage of its charity goes to international relief, compared to 5 percent in the U.S. and nearly 50 percent in Belgium.
Times reporter Edmund Sanders conducted an interview with Hillel Schmid of the Hebrew University center for the study of philanthropy. Some excerpts:
Q: So do Israelis give a lot of money domestically?
A: No. Individual philanthropy inside Israel — for things like social programs, education, art, culture — is less than 0.7% of the GDP. In the U.S., it’s about 2.5%. Though Israel is not socialist anymore, people still think it’s the role of the government to provide these things, not philanthropy. They feel, “We pay taxes. We serve in the army. Why should we give more?”
…We are the biggest importer of philanthropy money in the world. Ten years ago, 72% of Israel’s philanthropy came from overseas. Today it’s about 62%…
[In the 50s and 60s, international] aid was seen as a government interest. Not anymore. The government today has no policy about philanthropy. But I think it should because Israel is not in good shape in terms of legitimacy, the Palestinian territories and all this stuff. You’ve seen the polls that rank Israel fourth as the most-hated country after Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. Philanthropy abroad is not only for ideological and humanitarian reasons, but there is some self-interest as well.
Q: Does that really work? Israel showered Africa with assistance in the hopes that it could forge diplomatic relationships, yet those countries still boycotted Israel.
A: I think it does. We are isolated in the world. We can actually legitimize the state of Israel as a part of the world family by giving more to support other people.
Refugees are pouring out of Syria into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and even Iraq– but not to Israel.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005459
“The Jewish Brigade Group, formed as a unit within the British army in late 1944, worked with former partisans to help organize the Brihah (literally “escape”), the exodus of 250,000 Jewish refugees across closed borders from inside Europe to the coast in an attempt to sail for Palestine. The Mosad le-Aliyah Bet, an agency established by the Jewish leadership in Palestine, organized “illegal” immigration (Aliyah Bet) by ship. However, the British intercepted most of the ships.
In 1947, for example, the British stopped the Exodus 1947 at the port of Haifa. The ship had 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board, who were returned to Germany on British vessels. In most cases, the British detained the refugees—over 50,000—in detention camps on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The British use of detention camps as a deterrent failed, and the flood of immigrants attempting entry into Palestine continued.
The internment of Jewish refugees—many of them Holocaust survivors—turned world opinion against British policy in Palestine. The report of the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry in January 1946 led US president Harry Truman to pressure Britain into admitting 100,000 Jewish refugees into Palestine.
As the crisis escalated, the British government decided to submit the problem of Palestine to the United Nations (UN). In a special session, the UN General Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to partition Palestine into two new states, one Jewish and the other Arab, a recommendation that Jewish leaders accepted and the Arabs rejected. After the British began the withdrawal of their military forces from Palestine in early April 1948, Zionist leaders moved to establish a modern Jewish state.”
Hypocrisy is wonderful
”We can actually legitimize the state of Israel as a part of the world family by giving more to support other people.”
Yeah, because Israel’s record of endless war, occupation and brutality towards their neighbours has nothing to do with its isolation? It’s incredible how delusional even ‘moderate’ Israelis are.
But, but, but…. what about all those PR-promoted gifts to Haiti or Japan???
Haven’t we been told that without Israel, the world would literally fall apart and all hospitals would cease to exist(since Israel has built every single one!)??
I’m confused! Hasbara error 404! Does not compute!
Doesn’t this then cease being philanthropy and become a public relations exercise instead, as in Haiti?
Israeli Jews built a mean society .
Just look at all the poor Orthodox women who have to go to charities to get things like their wedding dress.
http://www.zdaka.org/Hachnasat-Kallah.php
I don’t want to hear that it’s worse in Uganda either, bots.
Israel is a very rich country.
And the state spends billions on war toys.
I guess Moses never really foresaw that.