The Knesset’s Labor, Welfare and Health Committee is holding a discussion Tuesday on the repeated attacks by Arabs on Hadassah Hospital at Har HaTzofim (Mt. Scopus). In the lead-up to the debate, an interesting discussion regarding the possible culpability of Eskimos has developed.
The most serious recent attack on the hospital occurred on “Nakba Day,” when Arabs from neighboring village Isawiya hurled rocks and fire bombs at the hospital.
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad (National Union) requested that the committee hold a discussion of the ongoing attacks after being approached on the matter by Prof. Tzvi Stern, the hospital’s director. Eldad – a physician – noted that the police seem unable to guarantee the hospital’s security.
Another physician member of the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, MK Dr. Afu Agbariya of the communist Hadash party, protested in a letter to the committee that the attackers might not be Arabs at all. “How can the committee determine that the rocks were thrown by Arabs before the relevant bodies’ responses are heard?”, he asked.
MK Eldad responded satirically, saying: “Indeed, there is diplomatic intelligence that thousands of Eskimos have infiltrated Israel, that they reside in Arab villages, that they have learned the Arabic tongue and that as they hurl fire bombs at the hospital they yell ‘Allahu Akbar’ in order to deceive the public.”
Eldad continued with the acerbic tone, adding that: “Therefore it is possible that Dr. Agbaria is right in saying that we should not speak of ‘Arab attacks on Hadassah Har HaTzofim Hospital’ but rather ‘attacks by people suspected as being Arabs on Hadassah Har HaTzofim Hospital’ or alternatively ‘attacks by Arab speaking people who live in Isawiya and mark Nakba Day by transporting rocks from one place to another and recycling glass bottles, rags and fuel into light- and heat-producing objects.'”