The last delegation of Israeli police officers has arrived home after patrolling the streets of Haiti for three months. The Israeli deployment followed the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean island in January, claiming hundreds of thousands of victims and causing wide-spread devastation. Just two months ago, a cholera epidemic broke out, leaving some 1,000 people dead. The 14 delegation members assisted mainly in maintaining public order under Italian auspices at the UN base.
They arrived in Israel on Sunday and were on the same plane that World Jewish Congress Secretary General Designate Daniel Diker (pictured on the right with some of the police officers), who flew back from meetings in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. Earlier this year, the WJC awarded several Israeli organizations involved in helping Haiti a special humanitarian award. The ’Heroes of Haiti” were thanked at the WJC Governing Board meeting in Jerusalem in August. Israel was the world leader in the rescue operation and the first country to set up a field hospital for the earthquake victims.
Upon the arrival of his group, the head of the police delegation, Meir Namir, said at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv that the operation reflected the high morality of Israeli society. "The delegation went with a sense of mission, and was accompanied throughout by the values of the people," Namir said. "It reflects the high morality of Israeli society, which I felt all the time. What I understood from there was that a state is not to be taken for granted. I can't pretend I wasn’t worried, but I am happy and very proud that we have returned hale and healthy." The Israeli delegation operated in Haiti in special uniforms bearing the Israeli and United Nations emblems, alongside 120 Italian colleagues.
