‘THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO BOYCOTT THE STATE OF ISRAEL SHOULD SHOW SOME SELF-RESPECT AND BOYCOTT ALL THE SERVICES OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL.’

Legal human rights organization Shurat Hadin, joined by 50 IDF reserve officers and soldiers, wrote to the Health Ministry and the National Transplant Center requesting that PA diplomat Saeb Erekat be removed from the waiting list for transplants in Israel.

About 50 soldiers and officers who fought in Operation Defensive Shield and who hold organ donor cards today petitioned the Health Ministry and the National Transplant Center to immediately remove Saeb Erekat from the list of transplants in Israel, due to the fact that Erekat has repeatedly slandered IDF soldiers, called for the boycott of the State of Israel, campaigned for sanctions against it, and led the BDS movement to isolate and harm the State of Israel.

Yesterday the media reported that an application had been filed on behalf of Saeb Erekat, a senior PA official, for a lung transplant in Israel.

In the wake of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and the reserve soldiers’ battle in Jenin in which 13 IDF soldiers were killed, a false propaganda film by director Muhammad Bakri, entitled Jenin Jenin, was released. The film purports to provide prima facie evidence of war crimes committed by the IDF in Jenin which turned out to be wholly spurious, as was decided by the Central District Court.

Erekat took a large part in disseminating the blood libel embodied in the film, which portrayed the story as if a massacre took place in Jenin when nothing of the sort occurred. Israel lost 13 soldiers in the city which it entered after dropping warnings from the air telling the residents to leave and then refraining from bombing from the air to prevent civilian deaths.. Erekat appeared at the time in the various media, mainly on foreign television channels, and disseminated the lie of the massacre.

In addition, in November 2010, Erekat wrote a letter praising the planner of then Minister Rechavam Ze’evi’s assassination, and in December 2015 he paid a condolence visit to another family whose son carried out a shooting attack against IDF forces.

In addition, Erekat is an enthusiastic supporter of the boycott movement against Israel – BDS. He has visited EU representatives in the past because they did not support BDS, and asserted that all their support for the two-state solution is meaningless if they do not support the boycott of Israel.

In a letter sent to the National Transplant Center, written by the Chairwoman of the Shurat-Din organization, Nitzana Darshan Leitner, it was stated: “It is unthinkable that anyone who defames Israeli citizens and commits blood libel against IDF soldiers receive a donation from these very civilians or soldiers. It is also inconceivable that anyone who calls to boycott the State of Israel, initiates propaganda for sanctions against it, and leads the BDS movement to isolate and harm the State of Israel, now seeks the assistance of that same State of Israel when he needs it.Those who choose to boycott the State of Israel have enough self respect to boycott all the services of the State of Israel.”

The letter further states that “in view of the discussion that took place over the past two days, we learned from the response of the Health Ministry and the National Transplant Center that the request by Erekat to be on the waiting list for a lung transplant in Israel would be rejected because he is not an Israeli citizen. However, it was clarified that in certain cases, even if these are extremely unusual, when there is no match between those waiting for a lung transplant and a lung available for transplantation, the transplant committee offers the transplant to a non-Israeli citizen, subject to the consent of the donor’s family.We must make it clear that this exclusion is also inappropriate and should be rejected.

“Organ transplants are based on principles of mutual responsibility and willingness to sacrifice, and involve great loss and pain. We do not consider it appropriate to add pain and sorrow by legitimizing the illogical step of assisting an anti-Israeli element who not only does not favor the existence of Israeli society but also acts to destroy it and delegitimize it. And we are aware of Israel’s being an enlightened state and striving to be a light unto the nations, as exemplified by the countless humanitarian acts carried out by the state. At the same time, we clarify that it is inappropriate for one part of the State of Israel or its citizens to give life to a person who acts systematically to mortally harm it,” the letter says.

This would indicate that Erekat would not be offered a lung that could be used to save an Israeli patient. However, Nitzana Darshan Leitner, chairman of the Shurat Hadin organization, added: “The very submission of this request is totally outrageous. Saeb Erekat carries on his neck an albatross of despicable and damaging slander against Israeli citizens, supporting the murderers who attack them. These are the citizens of Israel from whom he is now asking for a lung.”