Danny Biran recounts Israel’s response to Haiti’s quake

By: Jonathan Szydlo/Contributing Writer

Israeli Ambassador Danny Biran delivered an informative and emotionally charged lecture on Israel’s ongoing mission in Haiti.

The presentation titled, “Mission to Haiti: Israel’s Relief Efforts After the Earthquake,” was at the Biscayne Bay Campus’s Mary Anne Wolfe Theater on Nov. 4.

University President Mark Rosenberg gave opening remarks describing the 1947 deciding vote of Emile Saint-Lot, United Nations ambassador to Haiti and member of the UN’s Security Council, on the UN’s recognition of an independent state of Israel, therefore, putting into perspective the relationship between Haiti and Israel.

In attendance for the evening were dignitaries from both the Haitian and Israeli Consulate Generals, Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli from the U.S. Southern Command, along with members of the over twenty different communities and groups who co-sponsored the evening’s events.

Biran took the stage and without hesitation stated his lecture’s purpose.

“I am here to tell the story of these guys, the doctors and soldiers,” Biran said.

He gave an eye-witness account of the steps that the Israeli delegation had to take in order to have the most effective on-ground rescue and relief efforts possible, an argument which eventually granted Israel access to Port-au-Prince. The clog up caused at Toussaint Louverture International Airport due to the overwhelming response from the international community had to be cleverly circumvented.

This allowed two rented El Al jets, which were en route before Israel was granted clearance to land, to arrive with the delegation of 229 doctors, soldiers and rescue workers, along with the necessary supplies to set up a field hospital.

In addition to independently getting involved in rescue efforts due to bureaucratic messes,

Having set up the first field hospital in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, Biran enlightened the audience on the work ethic of the Israeli rescue efforts.

“The way we work is that we do not leave until we have results, good or bad,” Biran said.

Biran presented a clip with both video and picture documentation of the doctors and rescue workers while either performing procedures at the field hospital, or working through debris in an effort to pull out the buried.

The lead rescue worker prepared the clip.

As rescue operations came to a close, the Israeli field hospital performed 370 lifesaving surgeries and 16 emergency baby deliveries.

However, the end of rescue operations does not signify an end to Israel’s mission in Haiti. Biran explained Israel’s ongoing effort in Haiti, and described Israel’s plan to commence construction of an Intensive Care Unit/Trauma Center in Petit Goave, located in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, within the next two months.

Israel will fully stock and fund the medical unit with all necessary equipment, supplies, and initial medical staff which will be brought in from Israel.

The intent is to train a local medical staff and hand over the keys to the Haitian people within three months of its opening.

When asked of Israel’s plan to further the Haitian nation, Biran responded by saying Israel alone cannot make a huge difference, and thus why they are putting their efforts towards

where it can have the biggest impact.

The international community needs to come together in their efforts for Haiti for vast improvement to be made, according to Biran.