Extra, Extra, Dead Man Alive!

Posted on May 16, 2008
Filed Under Arabs, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Human Rights, International, Israel, Jews, Left, Liberalism, Middle East, Military, Muslims, News, PHR-I, Palestine, Physicians for Human Rights, Terrorism, War, Zionism, doctors, health, medicine, politics, prejudice | Comments Off

ynet news.com reported on Tuesday:

‘Dead Gazan’ alive and kicking

Rights group got it wrong: Gaza cancer patient who ‘died while waiting for permit’ still alive

Meital Yasur-Beit Or

Stayin’ alive: Muhammad al-Harrani, a father of six from Gaza diagnosed with cancer who reportedly died while waiting for a permit to enter Israel, miraculously “came back to life.” This was not the result of a miracle, but rather, just part of the tactics used by al-Harrani’s family in a bid to secure a permit for him.

Al-Harrani is currently awaiting an entry permit into Israel, so that he can undergo head surgery at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and receive radiation and chemotherapy treatment. At the end of April he was summoned to a questioning session at the Erez Crossing as part of the permit process, but the session was postponed by a week.

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, al-Harrani’s story was published. His family reported to the “Physicians for Human Rights” organization that he died. “The sick man could not withstand the wait for the permit,” claimed Ran Yaron, Director of the Occupied Territories Department who blamed the Shin Bet for adopting cruel policies against cancer patients.

While it is possible that the “Physicians for Human Rights” organization may have been so enraged at this apparent lack of care, of compassion… such is not likely the case… They’ve been cited already for distorting the facts, always taking the anti-Israeli side, and never (as again proven in this case!) fact checking when the accusation makes Israel look bad.

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, al-Harrani’s story was published. His family reported to the “Physicians for Human Rights” organization that he died. “The sick man could not withstand the wait for the permit,” claimed Ran Yaron, Director of the Occupied Territories Department who blamed the Shin Bet for adopting cruel policies against cancer patients.

I have no doubt that publishing the story on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day was merely a coincidence… Don’t you agree, gentle reader? You don’t?!?!? But, read on…

However, the next day, the organization discovered that al-Harrani was still alive. Members of group estimated that his brother, who reported the death, “killed” him so he does not report to the questioning session.

After the damage was done, after the story had been reported worldwide…

“This is a rare case where a family member knowingly provided false information to the organization,” Physicians for Human Rights said. “Usually, the organization receives information from the families and from the hospitals, but in this case the information was received from the family and was not confirmed by the hospital.”

Again, had they only bothered to check the facts… obviously, the true facts could not be allowed to get in the way of a good story!

Meanwhile, the Shin Bet sent the organization an angry response: “We view these harsh accusations on your part with great severity; not even a minimal inquiry into the facts was conducted.” The Shin Bet noted that due to the suspicion of his involvement in terror activities, al-Harrani was indeed called in for a security check, and it was indeed postponed by a week.

Since al-Harrani did not arrive at the questioning session, “he will have to bear the consequences or future damage that may be caused to him, in line with his refusal to cooperate in the procedure,” the Shin Bet said.

Al-Harrani did not arrive at the session for he feared those ruthless Israelis, dem accursed Jooz would find out the truth… about his “activities.” Do you, gentle reader, blame the Zionist Entity, for daring to protect itself?!?!?

Allow me to provide a little background on Physicians for Human Rights:

PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – ISRAEL (PHR-I)

52 Golomb St.
Tel-Aviv 66171
Israel
Phone :972 3 6873718

* Israeli health-care organization
* Consistently condemns Israeli military reprisals against terrorists, but does not denounce the Palestinian terrorist attacks

Opposing “the subjugation of medical care to political considerations of any kind,” Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) was established in 1988 by Israeli and Palestinian doctors as “a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the right to health care [for Palestinians] in Israel and in territories under Israel’s effective control.” “It was apparent,” explains PHR-I, “says that human rights violations in the form of systematic and official denial of access to medical care, the intentional infliction of bodily injury, torture and neglect of prisoners, grossly substandard medical care and facilities in the occupied territories and East Jerusalem, administrative detention and solitary confinement were issues that demanded attention. Therefore, PHR-Israel was founded to address these very issues.”

PHR-I has adopted a consistently biased stance against Israel, prompting the Israel Medical Association to sever all ties with the organization. For instance, PHR-I regularly condemns “the Israeli Occupation,” drawing no moral distinction between Palestinian terrorist attacks targeting civilians, and Israeli military reprisals targeting those terrorists. Moreover, the organization contends that “the State of Israel has no authority to erect checkpoints or roadblocks as a form of total control of the movement of Palestinian residents within the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

PHR-I also opposes Israel’s security fence, constructed in the West Bank for the purpose of preventing Palestinian terrorists from reaching Israeli population centers. On January 29, 2004, PHR-I took part in a demonstration “tour” (organized by the NGO Ta’ayush) in the area of Abu Dis, East Jerusalem. According to PHR-I’s press release of February 1, 2004, (titled “PHR-Israel tour of the Jerusalem Stranglehold”), “The wall is just the latest step in Israel’s policy of separating the East Jerusalem hospitals from the communities they serve.”

PHR-I was a co-endorser of a May 19, 2004 advertisement that appeared in the newspapers Ha’aretz and Al-Quds, depicting the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah (located in Gaza) as unconscionable violations of human rights — making no mention of the fact that the homes in question were being used as terrorist bases. Co-sponsors of this ad included such Palestinian NGOs as Adalah, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, HaMoked, I’lam, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Denunciations of Israeli policy constitute the dominant theme of PHR-I literature. An August 16, 2004 report on the Rafah Crossing (in the Gaza Strip) criticizes restrictions (which it terms “collective punishment”) on Palestinians attempting to enter Israel through this point. However, PHR-I makes no attempt to define this concept, or to distinguish it from legitimate and necessary security measures. Similarly, a May 2004 report titled “The Bureaucracy of Occupation,” produced jointly with Machsom Watch, impugns the District Coordination Offices responsible for issuing travel permits to the Palestinian population. Without mentioning Palestinian terrorism, the report states that “[t]he denial of freedom of movement is a human rights violation.”

PHR-I literature also asserts that Israeli soldiers deliberately shoot at Palestinian civilians despite the existence of clear rules governing the use of live fire and a well-defined legal system to deal with any abuses of those regulations. For example, an August 31, 2004 press statement claims: “According to information given … by Palestinian medical organizations in Gaza … the soldiers suddenly, and with no prior warning, opened fire” on a Palestinian ambulance.

In an October 3, 2004 statement, PHR-I condemned IDF operations in the northern Gaza Strip, virtually ignoring the fact that the operation was intended to prevent the firing of Qassam missiles into Israel.

PHR-I receives funding from Christian Aid, the Ford Foundation, the European Union, and the New Israel Fund.

This profile is adapted, with permission, from the NGO Monitor.

Opposing “the subjugation of medical care to political considerations of any kind,” Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) was established in 1988 by Israeli and Palestinian doctors as “a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the right to health care [for Palestinians] in Israel and in territories under Israel’s effective control.” A medical organization that stays above politics is absolutely necessary and its work is truly commendable. When that purportedly humanitarian medical organization does mix its own biased politics with its supposed healing functions one must then wonder if its true agenda consists of demonizing Israel rather than truly heal… But, such is the modus operandi of left wing organizations who operative under many guises and whose sole purpose it is to demonize the Zionist Entity.