Friday, August 8, 2014

Power Of The Press?



Recently, I wrote a post about Salma Abuzaiter, the eight-year-old girl whose family moved to Canada from Gaza and became Canadian citizens five years ago. Having accompanied her father, a physician, back to Gaza this summer so he could render medical assistance while she visited with her cousins and grandparents, Salma became trapped there after the latest outbreak of hostilities with Israel. Despite requests for some small logistical assistance from the Canadian government, her mother, in Brantford, initially received no response, later being told by Canadian officials in Ramallah that they were too busy to help.

As reported in the Toronto Star, they recommended Salma board a bus for a five-hour ride from Gaza City to Jordan, part of an “assisted departure” arranged by the Canadian government for its citizens. But Abuzaiter feared the bus plan would be unsafe for a young girl travelling alone.

But things changed, and the story appears headed toward a happy ending, without doubt due to the unpleasant light cast on indifferent Canadian officials by the press. Salma's mother reports:

During a recent break in the violence, ... Salma was escorted by her father, a doctor working in the country, to the Israeli border to meet with two female Canadian government officials, who helped her board a plane in Amman, Jordan, to Toronto.

“I never asked the government for financial help, just logistical help,” said Abuzaiter, who is paying all of the girl’s rescue expenses.

“When they told me they could take care of Salma and send representatives to her, I couldn’t stop crying.”


Sometimes, just sometimes, there is a light that is able to dispel the seemingly perpetual darkness enwreathing our government under the current regime.

10 comments:

  1. A small victory. But, as the American novelist Richard Brautigan noted, you have to keep track of the small victories.

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    1. Sometimes, Anon, those are the ones that keep us going, aren't they?

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  2. I forgot this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMDRbxoQIA0

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  3. Lorne, happy ending is heartening. At least one precious life is saved.

    Deaths of Palestinians has gone over 1900 and any ceasefire is shaky. Netanyahu is brutal and Palestinians are desperate. Palestinians are willing to make any sacrifice to improve their lives and lives of their children. May there be peace. 66 years of Palestinian slaughter must end.

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    1. Well said, LD. I think all right-thinking people would agree that it is long-past time for the slaughter to end.

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  4. Sometimes -- but only sometimes -- you can get these folks to do the right thing.

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    1. Unfortunately, most of those times are prompted by expediency rather than moral conviction, Owen.

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  5. Salma's father was unfortunately grilled by Carol Off (I think) on "As It Happens" yesterday evening. She opened her questioning by claiming that they had received lots of listeners' feedback criticizing him for jeopardizing his daughter. She couldn't conceive how he could so selfishly refuse to leave and accompany Salma when the first offer was made. He explained his duty as a doctor was to help with all the victims while finding a safe way for his daughter to return home. Anyway, I call bullshit on that so-called backlash. First I heard of it and if anything, probably based on toxic troll droppings on the CBC website.

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    1. Your analysis sounds right to me, Beijing. I notice more and more right-wing reactionary commentary these days on the CBC news site. And, of course, such an interview suggests once more the efforts by the CBC to appease its political masters. I will take some time later to listen to the interview. Thanks for pointing it out.

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