Medical Care For Non-Israeli Arabs In Israel?

I feel conflicted. On the one hand, the humanitarian side of me is pulled to offer whatever help I can to those who need it. On the other hand, the self-respectful side of me tells me that it is not right to offer help to others who only want to see us dead.

Several years ago, a Gazan mother was interviewed in the Israeli hospital that was saving her son’s life. With an irritating smile on her face, she says that the deaths of her two daughters was something that was “normal” and that she grieved but moved on because death is normal; she claims that life is nothing, worthless, and that if the son the Jewish state is now saving will be a shahid (martyr) one day that will be a good thing. How many of the “Palestinian” Arabs lying in our hospital beds feel the same?

So my question is:  Is this a child I want to be in a bed next to (or instead of) an Israeli child? Will this child’s name one day come up on a list of terrorists?

At least our tax money is not paying for the Arabs from the Palestinian Authority (PA). According to The Jewish Press, the PA covers medical expenses in Israel and they pay what Israelis pay and not what other medical tourists pay.

And then there are the humanitarian activities carried out by Israelis. In this video, Gal talks about her work helping displaced Syrians at our border. After telling a story about a 13-year-old boy in the United States having donated his Bar Matzvah gift-money to the project (providing three months worth of supplies — at 2:00 in the tape), she talks about having opened up to the Syrians with whom she was working about her being a Jew, an Israeli and a Zionist (beginning at 2:50).

And this commander jumped and started to scream: Now I understand. You’re not even a friend, you’re my enemy. So let me tell you one thing. It doesn’t matter what you did for the women and children of Syria, I am going to finish with Assad and come to you.

Gal tells how the Syrians had a hard time voting for [continuing] collaboration with the Israelis. She calls this the first Israeli-Syrian agreement. And yet, we have been bringing injured Syrians into Israeli hospitals for quite some time already. Does their contact with our humanitarian side make an impact on their desire to kill us? Only time will tell.

What I find hard to understand is why Gal even stayed to persuade the Syrians to accept their help. I think that self-respect would have dictated that one stand up and walk out after the commander’s declaration. I do not believe in forcing our help on anyone.

Then there is the feel-good story about how a high-level official in the Palestinian Authority donated tens of thousands of shekels to Rambam hospital after the life-saving cancer treatment he received there. Seeing PA, Syrian and other children treated alongside Israelis moved him to make the donation for the good of all. Therefore I am conflicted about this.

Yet it does seem, sometimes, that we Jews are like the cow who wants to nurse more than the calf wants to suckle. What do you think?