Aug 12, 2008

retrieving people from a war zone

Israel announced it is sending a plane to Georgia to retrieve the 230 Israeli citizens stranded there due to the war that has been raging the past few days.

In todays day and age where we live in a world that is increasingly capitalistic and democratic, one would think that 230 people who chose to go to a country for their personal profit (to run businesses and companies or touring or for whatever reason they are there), Israel, or any parent country, would have no obligation to retrieve them.

they went to make a buck, they can find their own flight back. Why should we, the taxpayer or the government, pay for them to come back now that they are in trouble? Why should we risk ourselves for them? It is a free market - you want to get to Israel, you had enough in Georgia, find a way to get there on your own.

It is particularly inspiring to see that not everything is dictated by the rules of the free capitalist market. We care for our people, no matter why they went or where they went. Someone is in trouble and we try to do what we can to save them.

7 comments:

  1. i thought el-al already flies out of atlanta - why send a special plane?.....when did atlanta get so rough?...

    ReplyDelete
  2. any updates on the scandal over at YL??
    any news on shefa shuk ban?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why should we, the taxpayer or the government, pay for them to come back now that they are in trouble? Why should we risk ourselves for them?

    Easy one! Because we are Jews and we believe Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze LaZeh!

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark - that is exactly the point of the post. That we do it despite many reasons not to. Because we are Jews.

    ReplyDelete
  5. anon - nothing concrete right now about YL.
    About Shefa, I have not heard about any change in the situation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't think this has anything to do with Judaism, even if it sounds nice. Any country with citizens in a war zone will find a way to get them out; this is one of the many responsibilities a government has to its citizens. After all, what are embassies for but to assist citizens abroad? Americans were quickly evacuated out of Lebanon and Israel during the conflict in 2006, for example. It's a simple matter of holding the right passport, and I would expect Israel to do the same regardless of whether the citizen is a Jew or not, and regardless of the purpose of their trip.

    ReplyDelete