Muslims: Jews Have Big Ears

Israeli humanitarian aid activist describes reactions of Muslims she helped after telling them she was from Israel.

When (former) Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa saw a Star of David on Gal Lusky's t-shirt, he initially refused to meet with her. After hours of arguments, Rajapaksa agreed to privately meet with Lusky, of the Israel Flying Aid organization (IFA), which delivered much needed help to the Sri Lankan people after the 2004 tsunami disaster.

"I know you Israelis from three angles," Rajapaksa told Lusky. "From CNN, the point of view of Yasser Arafat, and as corrupt weapons dealers. Which one are you?" he asked.

Lusky asked the prime minister to stop "wasting her time with preconceived notions," and by the end of the hour-long meeting, Rajapksa insisted she stay, saying he did not want her to leave.

The account of the meeting, and the work of the IFA in Muslim countries afflicted by disaster, was recounted by Lusky in a packed Knesset session Tuesday morning, held to mark the beginning of Jewish Social Action month of Cheshvan.

Lusky showed photographs of a smiling Pakistani Islamic underground member wearing a t-shirt with an Israeli flag on it, after he saw the weeks of work and aid carried out by IFA members in Pakistan. "He knew the danger, and he still wanted to wear it," Lusky said. After helping children in Indonesia, Lusky said she came across a child drawing pictures of war.

"Why are you drawing these things?" She asked the child. "Because I am scared of the Jews. They are dangerous and they have big ears and teeth," the Indonesian child answered. He added that he had been taught to fear the Jews at his mosque. Without revealing her identity, Lusky asked the child if he knew where the Jewish country was. "It's right here, just across the sea," the child said.

On IFA's final day of work in Indonesia, during which the organization was forced to call itself the "International Flying Aid" organization to disguise its Israeli identity, Lusky addressed the people she had spent weeks helping in the local mosque, and told them she was "from the country of the Jews."

"How many of you would come to Tel Aviv in Israel to help me if we had an earthquake?" Lusky asked the audience. "All of the children raised their hands and shouted that they would come to help, while the adults didn't know what to do," she recounted.

'Light to all nations'

Knesset Member Reuven Rivlin said he wanted to "see the State of Israel as a light to all nations, Jews and non-Jews." He emphasized that much charity work needed to be done in Israel itself.

Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev said that according to Jewish law, "all poor people were equal," adding that he wanted to see Israeli families in need of aid to receive help on an equal basis. Orlev described charity work as "sanctifying God's name."

"Except for Israel, there is a large-scale physical assimilation going on in Jewish communities, in some cases up to 80 percent are assimilating," Orlev said. "We need to keep Jews in their nation," he added.

'Knesset Members not setting personal example'

Knesset Members appeared unnerved by the comments of 17 year-old Yehuda Asael, of the National Youth Student Council, who placed the spotlight on the conduct of Knesset Members, and asked how their personal example fit in with the values of righteousness and charity.

"We as students are not very interested in the news, but we occasionally watch these programs, and we see many criminal cases attached to Knesset Members themselves. We look at you, Knesset Members, as you say, let's hold a month of charity, but we ask, what about you? Are you setting a good personal example?" Asael asked.

Rivlin retorted: "You live in a democratic state. Some Knesset Members are excellent; they are the pride of the nation. They created a strong country that can defend every Jew who returns to his homeland. Don't harm the arena of democracy. Always remember that the Knesset is larger than its members."

Speaking to Ynetnews, Asael said the Knesset needed to rid itself of unsavory elements. "They said I was generalizing, but that's not exactly accurate. There are problems here of personal example. I hope Knesset Members expel the problematic elements from their ranks," he said.

Y Net News
10.25.2006