Israel is wrong to give aid to antisemitic countries - opinion

In recent months, much has been made by Israel’s enemies of American relief aid to the Jewish state. What many of these critics overlook, likely because they do not know, is that Israel has its own decades-long record of providing humanitarian aid and emergency relief to countries in need, including Muslim-majority countries with no diplomatic ties to Israel - who now repay the Jewish state with inaction, silence, or overt hate in the wake of October 7.

In 1958, within a decade of Israel’s founding, the country formally adopted an international humanitarian aid agenda in an effort to prioritize foreign cooperation. That year, the government officially established MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s Center for International Cooperation, to administer its humanitarian efforts. MASHAV helps countries battling hunger, disease, and poverty by providing technical training and sharing Israeli technology.

The office sends Israeli eye doctors – widely considered authorities in the field – to countries across the developing world to treat preventable blindness and ocular disease, setting up “eye camps” using equipment usually unavailable in that country to treat patients and train staff. In the 1970s, MASHAV broadened the scope of its efforts by granting safe-haven in Israel to refugees initially from countries like Kosovo, Bosnia, and Vietnam, and more recently from Darfur.

Since the founding of MASHAV, which is now Israel’s official agency for international development cooperation, the Jewish state has provided humanitarian aid to over 140 countries. Starting in the 1980s, it has also offered humanitarian aid on an emergency basis, supporting countries facing everything from natural disasters to mass casualty terrorist attacks. In 2004, Israel sent 60 tons of aid to Indonesia, a country with no ties to Israel and the largest Muslim population in the world, after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.

In 2005, Israeli organizations provided aid in Pakistan after the earthquake in Kashmir, with Israeli NGOs dispatching missions to the region to help thousands of families, and in 2010, the state ramped up its earthquake relief efforts by sending a mass mission to Haiti, which included an IDF search-and-rescue team and field hospital. Israel has such a robust tradition of emergency humanitarian relief that the country even provided aid to Turkey and Syria after the 2023 earthquake.

Israel delivers aid even to its enemies

Israeli aid organizations were among the first responders on the ground, committing themselves to both short-term aid and longer-term efforts to facilitate reconstruction. Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a public statement saying that part of its aid would be delivered inside Syria – despite the Assad regime refusing this aid, which was then delivered without publicity or thanks.

After all that, in the face of the historically devastating October terror attack on Israeli soil, one might expect some of these countries to offer support for a state that has risen to their aid in times of urgent need. One would be wrong. 

In keeping with longstanding tradition, Israel received nearly all its emergency aid from the United States, while the rest of the world funneled its dollars into Gaza. The countries – from Indonesia and Haiti to Syria and Egypt – that swallowed their anti-Israel bias and gladly accepted the country’s support when it served their state, have offered precisely zero dollars in relief aid since October 7.

In fact, many of these nations returned the favor by fanning the flames of the virulent rise in anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate. In Turkey, where Israeli teams rescued 19 people from the earthquake rubble, dispatched 13 NGOs to ally with Turkish organizations in life-saving missions, and sent a United Hatzalah plane carrying over 10 tons of humanitarian and medical equipment, President Tayyip Erdogan spoke in front of hundreds of thousands of people at an anti-Israel rally, calling the country an “occupier” and a “war criminal.”

Erdogan’s anti-Israel vitriol opened the door for months of antisemitic unrest in Turkey, where tens of thousands of protesters still march each week, chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Murderer Israel, Get Out of Palestine.” Israel’s record of humanitarian aid, even to unfriendly countries such as Turkey, is undoubtedly commendable, reflecting the country’s genuine commitment to foreign cooperation and emergency relief. But the utter thanklessness of the world’s response speaks to a pathetic truth – the Jewish state can bend over backward to appease its enemies and it will never be enough.

Jew-haters will be Jew-haters no matter how much aid Israel gives or how many of their countrymen Israelis rescue. No number of dollars or tons of aid will convince a state with antisemitism baked into its animating ideals to overlook its prejudices and rise to Israel’s defense during a time of need. 

This is a sad reality that reflects a slew of equally sad truths about Israel’s isolation on the world stage. But it is a sad reality that Israelis must face head-on as the country starts picking up the pieces of its post-October 7 devastation.

Going forward, any aid dollar spent in service of bettering Israel’s image among indifferent states or swooping to the defense of longstanding is a dollar wasted. 

The Jewish people must contend with the ongoing aftermath of the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, and our responsibility right now lies with our people, our community, and our allies – certainly not with nations that malign us and wave away our well-intentioned efforts at cooperation.

The writer is a prominent Beverly Hills plastic surgeon and star of an Emmy-nominated Netflix original series, Skin Decision: Before and After.