Nancy Snyderman is NBC’s medical correspondent. She’s been in the Philippines and tweeted this photo yesterday.
Waiting for a chopper to fly to Gobo, Philippines where the Israeli Defense Force has moved into a hospital @nbcnews pic.twitter.com/qAqX5fd6Oy
— Dr. Nancy Snyderman (@DrNancyNBCNEWS) November 15, 2013
The Israeli army’s spox for international media was also tweeting about the Israeli army’s achievement.
Since this morning #IDFinPhilippines mission has treated 200+ patients in the field hospital. #makingadifference
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) November 15, 2013
Snyderman got out a story fast, on the Today Show. She puffed the Israeli army:
We’ve heard a lot of sad stories. Now we’re starting to talk about hope. Today the Israelis opened up shop in an area that has had very little attention… Quietly with no fanfare, the Israeli Defense Forces arrived too. The Israelis are known for security, top notch medicine and moving quickly. Dealing with a disaster is no exception…
One hour after their doors were opened, the first baby was born… The baby boy’s name? Israel of course.
The IDF spokesman hopped on the news.
Baby #Israel & the #IDFinPhilippines mission on the @todayshow by @DrNancyNBCNEWS on Haiyan death toll topping 3,600 http://t.co/QfuuakNUAw — Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) November 15, 2013
It seems to have made Fox, too.
#IDF field hospital, deliver baby Israel in typhoon-hit Philippines | Fox News http://t.co/UWMuA7MZc6 via @foxnews #IDFinPhilippines
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) November 16, 2013
The IDF can’t stop kvelling over the baby.
My favorite moment of today “its a boy” #IDFinPhilippines #IDF #MadeMeProud #BabyIsrael pic.twitter.com/5HTCO4MaZ9
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) November 15, 2013
Snyderman now has a blog up at NBC, “in awe” of Israeli medics, “medicine at its very best” and humanitarianism of the highest order:
I’ve always been fascinated by how well the Israeli Defense Force, otherwise known as the IDF, delivers emergency response medical care in extremely poor conditions. My first experience with the IDF was in Haiti after the devastation of the earthquake there. They were remarkable then, triaging and treating patients in the midst of the devastation.
I wondered if they had found their way here — so we set off to find them. And when we did, it was in a place we least expected…
Smart. Sophisticated. Secure. This was what I had experienced with the IDF before. But now I was impressed with something else: the place they had selected. …
I asked the IDF Surgeon General in charge why they chose Bogo. He said it was because they were poor and their needs were great. As I left, I walked away in awe of this group of doctors: physician humanitarians, and medicine at its very best.
P.S. This is called hasbara, getting out the Israeli story for the world. I wonder when was the last time Snyderman did a report from the West Bank or Gaza.
H/t Scott Roth’s acerbic twitter feed.
Quietly with no fanfare, the Israeli Defense Forces arrived too.
if it weren’t immediately plastered all over the news that allegation might be more believable.
[edit..whoops i just realized that was the subject line. well, it did stick out like a sore thumb]
Perhaps these great “humanitarians”, while otherwise occupied, will give the beleaguered and terrorized Palestinians a break.
Congrats to the parents of the tiny tot.
“Smart. Sophisticated. Secure. This was what I had experienced with the IDF before.you”
Ask a Palestinian what their experience with the IOF is… Oh, that’s right…..
I will guess Gobo, PI is not in the Muslim areas of the Philippines. Those locations have not received much coverage from America’s media, but they probably have a lot of hurricane damage, too.
By the way, Australia has sent more aid to the Philippines per capita than any other country. Yet I don’t hear the Australians beating about this from the mountains as loud as they can.
Maybe it’s because a real democracy doesn’t have to constantly prove that it is one.
And maybe because Australians are just a more decent, nice and more laid-back people than those living in Israel where a majority of young Jews would do away with democracy in favour of a strictly Jewish state if they had to make a choice.
I’m sure Snyderman, right after reporting from the concentration camp called Gaza, is going to be on that story.
Of course if Israel would NOT extend humanitarian medical aid where it’s needed all over the globe, it would be accused of being racist, supremacist, selfish, etc.
When Israel does act, “humanitarians” gets put in quotation marks.
Damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t.