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Last update - 06:25 10/01/2008 The evil decree By Haaretz Editorial Tags: Gaza, Shin Bet, Israel  The scene shown Tuesday night on television was one of the most harsh and shameful seen here in recent times: a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, Ahmed Samut from Khan Yunis, and a nine-and-a-half-year-old girl, Sausan Jaafari, of Rafah, as they entered the Erez crossing alone, after being torn from the arms of their weeping parents. The two children have heart conditions and need urgent surgery to save their lives. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon agreed to care for them, as part of their Save a Child's Heart program that saves the lives of children around the world. The hospital is to be praised for the project. The editors at Channel 10 News and reporter Shlomi Eldar are also to be praised. Israel and its security establishment, however, deserve a mark of disgrace. Advertisement The parents of the two children, both fathers and mothers, were not permitted by the Israel Defense Forces' coordination and liaison administration to accompany their children to the fateful surgery. They are "denied entry" to Israel. The fact that Sausan's parents had accompanied her to previous operations at Wolfson did not change the evil decree. It is indeed a decree of unparalleled evil. Only the elderly uncle of one of the children was allowed to go with them. The images of children walking alone on their way to the frightening surgery should have reverberated from one end of the country to the other. They should have disturbed all Israelis, no matter what their political outlook. All parents in Israel should have put themselves in the place of those unfortunate parents. Israel must not take inordinate pride in the very fact that it provides medical care for two sick children. In the state of siege it has imposed on Gaza, Israel bears heavy moral responsibility for the welfare and health of the besieged. It should also be noted that the siege is preventing Gaza's Shifa Hospital from expanding its departments as planned, due to lack of building materials in Gaza. But the decision not to allow parents to accompany their children, which is also made in many other cases in which patients are denied entry to Israel for life-saving treatments, is insufferable. Israel is taking the name of security in vain. No security consideration can excuse closing the crossing to the sick children's parents, who are under no suspicion and who are not allowed in only because of their young age. The security establishment has enough tools to make exceptions to the accepted practices that it has put in place arbitrarily, and to know how to filter out the humanitarian cases that must be allowed to cross. Sausan's and Ahmed's parents have the basic human right to nurse their children through their most difficult hours. It is not too late. The security establishment should immediately allow the parents to enter Israel and ease its decrees in similar humanitarian cases. This is not about security, and it is not only about the fate of these families; it is about Israel's moral image. The image that came through on television Tuesday night raises some very doleful thoughts. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Slam the Qassam The U.S. wants the UN Security Council to denounce Qassam rockets for the first time. Remembrance day German Chancellor Merkel hails the return of Jewish life to Germany after the Holocaust.   1.   Betzelem Elokim 11:10  |  Joseph 10/01/08   2.   Masterful piece of spin 11:45  |  nina 10/01/08   3.   Darkness to the Nations 12:57  |  Porat 10/01/08   4.   The evil decree 14:13  |  Marian 10/01/08   5.   What`s the hebrew for reverse hasbara? 15:16  |  Rowan Berkeley 10/01/08   6.   its works like magic! 16:29  |  Leon Rosgarten 10/01/08   7.   decree 16:47  |  sam 10/01/08   8.   "Unparalleled evil" ? Haaretz` dangerous rhetoric 16:57  |  SearchForNuance 10/01/08   9.   The real evil decree 21:00  |  Bumble Bee 10/01/08   10.   Not "evil", statehood 22:27  |  Andras Bereny 10/01/08   11.   The Real Evil: Israel, Zionists Persecuting Haredim 23:03  |  Satmar Hasid 10/01/08   12.   all would change in Gaza if only.... 23:21  |  Shawn 10/01/08   13.   "unparalleled evil?" Haaretz demonizes Israel 23:29  |  Jonathan Sims 10/01/08   14.   Not unsurpassed 23:31  |  Murray 10/01/08   15.   Pals dress their toddlers in Hamas garbs with bomb belts and prou 00:01  |  Absolute Sweden 11/01/08   16.   Leon R., Sweden denied a sight saving surgery to a 00:35  |  Absolute Sweden 11/01/08   17.   EVIL DECREE OF ISRAEL 06:17  |  John Ish Ishmael 11/01/08   18.   Moral image or moral fibre? 11:27  |  sh 11/01/08   19.   the evil decree 11:43  |  Fair 11/01/08   20.   Haaretz concerned about Israel`s "moral image". Very funny. 19:20  |  Chaim 11/01/08   21.   Terrible policy, bad medicine 20:54  |  Aphemia 11/01/08   22.   to 21 : shame on you 22:21  |  the syrian 11/01/08   23.   it was for 20 22:53  |  the syrian 11/01/08   24.   This is pure heartlessness and so unnecessary 04:52  |  Dutch 12/01/08   25.   Shin Bet has a moral obligation to reflect a moral center 11:48  |  Dutch 12/01/08   26.   Ask USA and Canada 14:59  |  Yahsra Ohion 12/01/08   27.   A needful mirror for Israel to see itself in 16:15  |  Ivar 12/01/08   28.   Prayer for all followers of Abrahamic religions 23:08  |  JayBob 12/01/08   29.   Prayer for all followers of Abrahamic religions 23:11  |  JayHoward 12/01/08   30.   Prayer for all followers of Abrahamic religions 23:12  |  JayHoward 12/01/08   31.   Are We Better Or Not? 23:25  |  Allen 12/01/08   32.   Betzelem Elokim 23:51  |  Lumaheihei 12/01/08   33.   Masterful piece of spin 00:08  |  JayHoward 13/01/08   34.   #6 its works like magic! 00:19  |  JayHoward 13/01/08   35.   Nina and ihumanity 00:32  |  Truth 13/01/08   36.   "Unparalleled evil" ? Haaretz` dangerous rhetoric 01:45  |  JayHoward 13/01/08   37.   #10 Not "evil", statehood 01:54  |  JayHoward 13/01/08   38.   Haaretz Editorial is the Evil Decree 07:41  |  Efox 13/01/08   39.   Over the top 07:15  |  Leo 26/01/08

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