How Israel thanks (or doesn’t) Palestine for helping put out fires

By Haggai Matar November 26, 2016 | Edit

The Palestinian Authority contributed eight firetrucks and 40 firefighters to combat the fire in Haifa. All they got was a footnote.

The Israel Embassy in the U.S. published a thank you message on its Facebook page on Friday dedicated to all the countries that helped put out the wildfires raging across the country. Under the headline “Israel is thankful” — right on time for Thanksgiving — every country that sent firefighting crews was awarded a small image of plane with its flag. As can be seen above, countries such as the U.S., Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan were given this honor. Even countries that expressed their willingness to help, such as Portugal or Belarus, were mentioned.

Only the Palestinian Authority — which sent eight fire trucks and 40 firefighters to help put out the flames in the northern city of Haifa — was somehow forgotten. Or to be more precise, the PA was mentioned in a small footnote on the bottom right of the image, without a flag or a plane of its own — only the words: “Ground assistance received also from the Palestinian Authority.”

Maybe it’s because they don’t have a supertanker?

[Update, 7:40 p.m.: Two days after Palestinian firefighters were sent to help put out the fires, Prime Minister Netanyahu phones Mahmoud Abbas to thank him for the help.]

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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