An Outrage: Ambulances are NOT Military Vehicles

The Palestinian Media Watch organization has spent years monitoring Arab media, to listen and learn…in Arabic, the truth that many of us who do not speak Arabic never know. This article caught my attention for a variety of reasons. First, because it reminded me of an article I had written years ago called, What the Arabs Have Done to Themselves. Although his name does not appear in the article (written in 2004), it is about a time that Elie was on call with the local ambulance squad. They got a call that there had been an accident inside an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem. They ran to the ambulance, raced to the front of our city, raced towards the edge of the Arab neighborhood … and then waited. When Elie told me this story, I was horrified. Inside the car that had been hit was a pregnant woman. Why had the Israeli ambulance stopped?

The answer, explained as clearly as I could, was that this is what happens when you abuse the sanctity of that which is holy to us. When you stone an ambulance and set it afire, do not expect us to send more ambulances in to help you. When you store missiles in mosques and schools and hospitals, do not then cry out for the innocents who may get hurt when Israel bombs these arsenals and rocket launching pads. And finally, when you use ambulances for military purposes, don’t be surprised when we do not honor your ambulances, when we stop and search them, when the innocents suffer delays at checkpoints.

Four years ago, and today again, I tell you that this is what the Arabs have done to themselves. Mosques are not arsenals; arsenals cannot be called mosques. Ambulances are not military vehicles, and military vehicles cannot be called ambulances. The sanctity of the innocent should not be blurred and tainted to serve the needs of terrorists.

Hamas converts 46 ambulances to military vehicles, misusing humanitarian aid
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

PMW has documented the repeated use of foreign funding by both the PA and Hamas for terror and glorification of terror. The following is another case of well intended humanitarian assistance given to Palestinians that is appropriated for military or terror purposes:
“The [Palestinian] Health Ministry stated yesterday that Hamas militias had raided 46 ambulances, donated by Arab states during the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip, of the medical equipment that they contained… and used them as military vehicles to arrest civilians, after painting [the ambulances] black.

The Ministry’s director of public relations and information, Dr. Omar Nasr… said that the medical equipment removed from the ambulances was expensive. He demanded that the Hamas militias declare, courageously and openly, what had become of the thousands of tons of medical equipment which had been brought into the Gaza Strip as assistance for the Palestinian people, and which had passed at its [Hamas’s] orders to private warehouses and its own medical centers, and was later sold to the helpless citizen…”

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2009]

3 Comments

  1. Soldier Mom, I disagree with you about one thing.

    You say that a Mosque is not an arsenal and an arsenal is not a Mosque. This is a mistaken view of Islam.

    Islam is a religion that holds religious warfare, Jihad, as a great mission. There is Dar-Al-Harb, and Dar-Al-Islam. There is no in between.

    To them, the Mosque is indeed a baracks. One of it’s primary purposes is to call the faithful to gather not just for prayer but for war. To train, to arm, to store weapons.

    It is the rest of the world that regards holy sites as sacred ground dedicated to peace. Islam has no such concept.

    I am not saying this to be critical of Islam, but to be honest. This is simply part of who they are.

  2. Hi Ronny,
    So let me say it this way – a mosque SHOULD NOT BE an arsenal…and an arsenal CANNOT be a mosque. For me, it is important to point out that as soon as Palestinians (or Hezbollah or Iraqis or Iranians) put weapons in a mosque – we have the right to declare that whatever holiness it might have had previously has been nullified. If you stockpile weapons in a building…no matter what that building is – hospital, school, mosque, or home – Israel has the right to defend herself against the weapons in the building – even if it means destroying it. Thanks for your comments!

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