Between March 15 and 17 three important Israeli groups involved in international aid attended Dubai’s International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference. These included MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation at Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Israeli Flying Aid and Save a Child's Heart.
MASHAV, established in 1958, is responsible for the design, coordination and implementation of the Sate of Israel’s development cooperation programs & humanitarian assistance efforts. It has trained more than 300,000 people and is active in countries around the world. It was a sponsor of the Dubai event this year. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the UAE have seen many firsts since the Abraham Accords were signed. Israeli companies flocked to be at GITEX last year, including dozens of start-ups. The Israel Export Authority had a role along with the Israeli MFA. Then Israeli companies also went to IDEX and are expected at GISEC later this year along with another cyber security conference. Israelis are also looking forward to more work with the DMCC in Dubai. There were even Israeli companies for the first time at an organic conference in the UAE.
Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), a non-profit non-governmental organization established in 2005, was also at the event. It was created "in response to a striking injustice in international law, the UN Charter and the Rome Statute," the group said. Gal Lusky, Founder and CEO attended the events in Dubai.
Save a Child's Heart (SACH), an Israel based, international humanitarian NGO, non-profit organization founded in 1995 also went to the UAE. It was founded at the Wolfson Medical Centre in Israel. "SACH's mission is improving the access and quality of paediatric cardiac care where access to such care is limited or nonexistent," they say.
These organizations have played a key role over the last several years, helping people in the region and around the world, often quietly because Israel's aid is sometimes controversial. Now in the UAE they are able to be more public about their work.
Read more about the exhibitors here.
DIHAD says it "brings together key decision-makers from leading NGOs, UN Agencies, Charity Organisations and governmental bodies, together with aid, education and construction providers from the private sector to address the needs of the people and countries affected by crises, disasters and natural calamities."
Journalist Michal Divon tweeted about the Israeli presence, see her tweets here.
UAE Forsan also ran a video of the Israeli groups attending and focused on Save a Child's Heart. "Save Children's Hearts...an organization that has been working for years under the motto 'the child is the child', to save thousands of little hearts in different countries." Watch the segment here.
Want to learn more about Israel Gulf Report?
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GulfIsrael
Follow us on Twitter @GulfIsrael Email us : israelgulfreport@gmail.com
Check us out on Substack and sign up here or there for a newsletter http://israelgulfreport.substack.com