Sylvan Adams is a Canadian-Israeli philanthropist and real estate developer.
In Judaism, life is considered the most holy thing. The Talmud, the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology, teaches, “He who saves a single life, saves the world entire.”
In October, I had the honour of supporting the efforts of an Israeli non-governmental organization, IsraAid, which organized a daring effort to rescue 167 Afghans, including a first group of 44 who are now in Dubai. The refugees included judges, activists, members of the Afghan women’s national cycling team and former female police officers, who fled the threat of death as the Taliban took control of the country.
The Israel-based NGO worked in dangerous circumstances to find the Afghans safe houses during their journey, as well as safe passage through Tajikistan. The first group of 44 refugees flew to the United Arab Emirates, and a second group of 123 ended up travelling to Albania. IsraAid used diplomatic back channels to find host countries for the refugees.
When the UAE heard that an Israeli organization was rescuing Muslim Afghans, they stepped up to volunteer to be the transit country, while the Afghans applied to be accepted as refugees in Canada. This is remarkable in itself, as the Emiratis offered to host our group because they knew that an Israeli-led mission would be secure, and competently managed.
The mission is also a byproduct of the groundbreaking Abraham Accords, a recent agreement between Israel, the United States, the UAE and Bahrain, and shows that co-operation between these countries is real and tangible. The effort by IsraAid was, by all measures, an incredible feat in its own right, but this operation was especially sensitive as Israel and Afghanistan don’t have diplomatic relations with each other.
Despite those challenges, rescuing these 167 Afghans was far from the first daring effort by IsraAid, which provides humanitarian assistance in the wake of emergencies around the world, regardless of the race, ethnicity or religion of the recipient country.
In the past, the group sent rescue teams to Mozambique, Italy, the United States, South Sudan, Haiti, the Philippines and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters. And as impressive as IsraAid has been on the international stage, it is by no means an exception in Israel; in fact, the group reflects Israeli values and society as a whole.
More than three years ago, the Israeli government rescued more than 400 members of the Syrian White Helmets from certain harm. The civil defence volunteers, familiar for their trademark white helmets, worked in civil-war-ravaged Syria, and they became known internationally for rescuing civilians from bombed-out buildings. But Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad declared them terrorists, and so, facing perilous danger, they had to leave.
In an Israeli effort in 2018, the country orchestrated a route whereby the 422 White Helmet volunteers and family members were taken to the Syrian-Israeli border, where they were then surreptitiously picked up by members of Israel’s military.
Israel has also recently provided significant and life-saving humanitarian care. In December, 2020, as Italy was suffering through a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group called the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, sent a team of Israeli medics to the northern Italian city of Piedmont, which was coping with hundreds of coronavirus patients in local hospitals.
Similar to the rescue of the Afghans, Israel’s efforts in Italy were possible in part because of the financial assistance of an Israeli philanthropist. Perhaps more noteworthy is Israel’s innovative approach, which sees collaboration between government, local NGOs and donors.
The Jewish state has proven repeatedly that it exists as a positive force for good in a world often lacking exactly that. Despite Israel facing ceaseless threats to its very existence from regimes such as Iran, it continues to make the world better in an effort known in Hebrew as tikkun olam, translated as “repairing the world.”
Israel has proven to the world that challenges at home do not preclude the ability to help abroad when needed. Tiny Israel could justifiably argue that it is, quite simply, too overwhelmed with domestic issues to provide humanitarian aid to other countries. But it doesn’t. Rather, Israel has acted repeatedly to help people worldwide who are in need.
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