This is a Guest-post from Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.

Originally from Donaghadee, Laura Kafif does not have to search around for job satisfaction.

Fourteen years ago the former hairdresser and part owner of a salon in Bangor left Northern Ireland for a new life in Israel with her Israeli husband Boaz.

When her own son was safely off to nursery school, Laura volunteered with Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), an Israeli charity, which brings thousands of children from around the world to Israel in order to carry out life-saving heart surgery unavailable  in their own countries.

On January 28 this year Save a Child’s Heart hit the headlines when a 6 year old boy named Woodley, together with his aunt, flew from Haiti to Tel-Aviv with the returning Israeli rescue team.  Woodley was greeted at the airport by hundreds of well-wishers, including the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Woodley was brought to Israel by SACH to undergo complicated cardiac surgery he desperately needs to survive.

Laura explains that SACH is totally dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child’s nationality, religion, colour, gender or financial situation.

Since  SACH was founded in 1995, by the late cardiac surgeon Dr Ami Cohen, it has saved the lives of more than 2,300 children from 36  countries – many of which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. 40% of the children who underwent cardiac surgery are from Africa; 49% from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan & Iraq;  the remainder from many other countries including the former USSR, China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The children brought to Israel are treated at the Wolfson Medical Centre in Holon by a team of 70 dedicated experts who, from chief surgeon to the physiotherapist, contribute a substantial portion of their time without any payment from SACH.

The children are hosted at the SACH children’s home in nearby Azor before and after their treatment.

And that is where Laura comes in, her job is to run the children’s home. “As a child’s average stay in Israel is three months I get to know the children personally”, she says

Laura explains: “My son had just started Kindergarden so I just decided to show up at the SACH house to see how I could help. SACH had grown and were in the process of moving to a larger house.   After volunteering for six months, I was offered a job. I have been with SACH for eight and a half years, travelling twice to Zanzibar on medical missions with the SACH  medical team”.

In Laura’s care at the moment are five children from Gaza, children from Iraq, as well as children from Angola, Ghana, Uganda and the Gambia.

“Working for SACH is so completely different to what I was doing before I came to Israel.  Maybe it is a little clichéd to say, but there is nothing like working with these children and their escorts and seeing them within a few weeks after surgery,  running and playing like any child should.”

”During the month of February SACH is running a Valentines Day campaign.  Please visit their new interactive donation web page, watch world music innovator Idan Raichel hanging out with the children, and take a moment to “Give Your Heart…and Save a Life.”

If you would like to know more about Save a Childs Heart visit their website : www.saveachildsheart.org ]]> http://www.fairplaycg.org.uk/2010/02/nifi-from-donaghadee-to-israel-%e2%80%93-with-a-heart/feed/ 0 http://www.fairplaycg.org.uk/2009/11/imed-counter-protest-in-bradford/ http://www.fairplaycg.org.uk/2009/11/imed-counter-protest-in-bradford/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:17:44 +0000 fpcg http://www.fairplaycg.org.uk/?p=530 The following is a guest post from the Institute for Middle East Democracy.

CALL FOR HELP:

This Friday 13th November, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign is protesting outside Morrisons in Thornbury, Bradford at 2pm as part of their boycott week. They have instructed their ‘activists’ to bring along bloodstained children’s clothes.

The Israeli Solidarity Campaign wishes to challenge this, and peacefully counter-protest at the same place.

Why Oppose A Boycott?

If you are able to come, please meet at 2pm on Friday, outside the front entrance of the Morrisons in Thornbury, Bradford. Make sure to make a note of the mobile number at the bottom of this message. If you have a Facebook account, please also join the newly made Facebook group so we can get a rough idea of numbers.

Email office.imed@gmail.com if you want further details.

Or ring 07788 646 488 for any urgent inquiries.

This is significant. Despite all of the noise generated by UCU’s pro-boycott policies in the UK, University Vice-Chancellors and managements have universally opposed a boycott of Israel. If NNTU passes this policy, it would be the first mainstream university in Europe to support a boycott of Israel.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East has a petition which academics are signing to oppose the boycott. If you are an academic, click here to sign it.

For a week from the 7th of November, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is targeting Waitrose and Morrisons as part of their supermarket boycott campaign. They are asking their supporters to send emails and letters to Waitrose and Morrisons, to hold demonstrations outside local stores, and they plan to inundate their Head Offices with phone calls.

The PSC’s goal is for these supermarkets to boycott Israeli goods. They are focusing on goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights, but are also campaigning for a total boycott of Israel.

Boycotts are not an effective way of moving forward or achieving peace. They target all Israelis (Jews and Arabs), but impact on the Palestinian economy as well as Israel’s, because the two markets and societies are so deeply entwined.

In response to this, we are calling for a BUYcott of Israeli goods in these shops. Starting from Saturday night on the 7th of November, we call on all friends of Israel to:

• Go to Waitrose or Morrisons that week and buy goods from Israel

Look out especially for fresh fruit and vegetables and for Israeli wine. If you need help finding them, ask the supermarket staff and explain why you are buying Israeli goods.

• Write to your local store manager

Thank them for stocking Israeli goods and explain that boycotts have no positive outcomes and impact adversely on all of the inhabitants of the region. You might suggest additional products for them to stock.

• Write a letter or email to the Head Offices of these supermarkets

Explain that boycotting Israeli goods will do nothing to further the peace process and will damage the livelihoods of local farmers and workers.

MORRISONS

WAITROSE

customer_service@waitrose.co.uk

We are running this campaign with the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Download a PDF of the text above that can be put up on a bulletin-board.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop Ahmadinejad speaking at the UN. But Governments don’t have to sit there and listen to him. They can walk out, as the UK Government and many others did when he spoke at Durban II.

So we’re arranging a quick Twitter campaign to call on the UK Government to walk out while Ahmadinejad speaks.

The message the Fair Play Campaign (@fairplaycg) tweeted is

“Ahmadinejad stole an election and denies the Holocaust. @DMiliband and @DowningStreet should walk out when he speaks at the UN. Please RT”

Obviously everyone should write their own message, but messages should include @DMiliband and @DowningStreet, so that they get seen by advisors to Gordon Brown and David Miliband. Also try to include some note in your tweet to encourage others to join the campaign.

If you’re already a twitter user, this will be the easiest campaign you ever joined. So what are you waiting for, write your tweet now!

Delara Darabi

Delara Darabi, a 22-year-old Iranian woman,  has been on death row since 2006, convicted of a crime committed when she was just 17. According to Iranian law, she should not be executed as she was a minor when the crime was committed. But that hasn’t deterred the Iranian regime from keeping her on death row for 3 years.

Her execution has been scheduled for the next few days – it may have already occured, or it may be later this week.

Amnesty International has organised a protest outside the Iranian Embassy at 9am tomorrow, Monday 20th April.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be speaking at the Durban II Conference later this week, so this protest is also an opportunity to highlight the human rights abuses and racism of the Iranian government.

The address of the Iranian embassy is:

See if your MP has signed, and if not, write to ask them to.

For our guide to EDMs, click here
To find your MP, enter your postcode here

EDM 1115

THE DETENTION OF CORPORAL GILAD SHALIT 17.03.2009

Gwynne, Andrew

That this House calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in a cross-border terrorist attack inside Israel on 25 June 2006; welcomes Egyptian efforts to bring about the soldier’s release; notes that 21 March 2009 will mark the soldier’s 1,000th day in captivity; further notes that, despite repeated requests, the International Committee of the Red Cross continues to be denied access to the kidnapped soldier; recognises that the soldier’s continued detention is an obstacle to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians; condemns the kidnapping of Corporal Shalit by Hamas; and urges the Government to do all it can to bring about Corporal Shalit’s release.

John Mann MP has put down an Early Day Motion promoting the London Declaration and opposing antisemitism. Write to your MP and ask them to sign EDM 829!

For our guide to EDMs, click here
To find your MP, enter your postcode here

EDM 829

LONDON DECLARATION ON COMBATING ANTI-SEMITISM

That this House notes the inaugural conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition on Combating Anti-Semitism, the attendance of 125 MPs from 40 different countries and the resulting London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism; believes that anti-Semitism is on the rise, at the highest levels since records began in the 1980s; supports the recommendation that every country should have comprehensive hate crime legislation where anti-Semitism is treated equally as a racially or religiously motivated crime, incitement to hate laws and prosecutions of those hosting, unloading or commissioning hate on the internet within their jurisdiction; agrees that more should be done to tackle anti-Semitism on university campuses, ensure better reporting and to secure more convictions for the anti-Semitic hate crimes that take place; calls on all politicians to sign the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism and for the Government working group to consider how Britain can best implement the Declaration; and calls for a Council of Ministers meeting on the issue of anti-Semitism.