Last Minute Event: Meet the head of the IDF Field Hospital in Haiti

We’ve just added this free event for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3; a very special opportunity to hear Dr. Ofer Merin, who was in-charge of Israel’s remarkable field hospital established in Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

For those of us who love Israel it was a refreshing change of pace to see the IDF portrayed so widely and so positively for its magnificent response to the overwhelming need in Haiti. Of course, it didn’t take long for even this effort to be subjected to criticism, charges of cynical manipulation and worse still even heinous blood-libels. People got so wrapped-up in the political posturing regarding the “purity” of the medical mission’s objectives (both attackers and defenders) that the pure fact of the actions performed, the aid rendered and the lives saved has already begun to dim in peoples’ memories.

Tomorrow is the rare opportunity to hear from someone who was there. Dr. Ofer Merin was the Chief of the IDF’s field hospital and was witness to the amazing marshalling of people and materials at a moment when the rest of the world’s relief efforts seemed to be spinning their wheels. Whatever political drama gets constructed around the fringes of this operation, the fact of its achievements cannot be denied.

The event is a chance both to learn more about the operation, and to thank one if its leaders for representing Israel and the Jewish people so well.