May 1, 2013

Three Iraqi children have arrived in Israel for life-saving heart surgery and were received by representatives of the Ministry for Regional Cooperation and members of Save a Child’s Heart charity.

Although Iraq is defined as an ‘enemy state’ to Israel, the Knesset approved the entry of the three children and their mothers on humanitarian grounds.

“The humanitarian treatment that we grant to children is in essence the difference between us and some of our neighbors. I’m proud to be a partner in this project which brings hearts together and promotes fraternity among nations,” Silvan Shalom, Minister of Energy and Water, Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee and Minister for Regional Cooperation, told a delegation of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa at the Wolfson Medical Center (WMC).

The Kurdish children, ages one, three and six, were received by representatives of the Ministry for Regional Cooperation and members of Save a Child’s Heart.

The director of the WMC, Dr. Yitzhak Berlovich, who accompanied Minister Shalom, said that to date more than 3,000 children from 44 developing countries have been treated at the WMC and that every year SACH brings to Israel more than 250 children.

Simon Fisher, SACH executive director said that “thanks to the initiative of Minister SIlvan Shalom, to date almost 200 children from Iraq have been operated at the WMC, and this is only the beginning. It is our intention to continue to expand our activity for the betterment of the children in the countries of this whole region. This is also thinking of our own children and their futures.”

More on humanitarian