1 New Heart

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk






If you are starving to hear a great story coming out of the whole Israel-Palestinian conflict, this is it. Meet Hank Dannecker Jr. and his wife, Michele, two American Christians who pulled up stakes a couple of years ago and moved to Israel to answer God's call to help people. Without even knowing they would have a home to provide a roof over their heads, these two went to Israel to help bring medical care to Palestinian and other Arab children with congenital heart problems. Their home-grown movement called 1 New Heart is linking up Israeli doctors working for free to provide heart operations to needy Palestinian/Arab children. Together with the Israeli organization, Save a Childs Heart (SACH), approximately 15 children a month are being given a new lease on life. For about $10,000, a child can be given the necessary operation and affiliated care and medications. As stated, the doctors work for free, but the costs of transportation, the hospital costs, room, anesthesia, etc must be covered. This cost is divided between SACH and 1 New Heart. (Since the Israeli agency cannot directly find Palestinian and other non-Israeli children to help, they use Hank's group as an intermediary. It is Hank who literally transports the children and their families from Gaza for example, through Israeli check-points, and to the hospital (Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel).

You might be asking the question I myself posed to Hank Tuesday over the phone; why do so many Palestinian children suffer from congenital heart defects? The reason is a high level of intermarriage in Palestinian society where a marriage to say, a half-sister is acceptable. As a result, about 20 of 1000 Palestinian children now have heart defects, according to Dannecker, a much higher than normal rate.

Aside from the obvious humanitarian benefit, there is another great benefit involved. These are children that are being raised to believe that Christians and Jews are evil beings. Their families sit in mosques and listen to the vilest descriptions of Christians and Jews preached by many of their imams. They are told that Christians and Jews are descendants of apes and pigs who eat Muslim babies. This program puts the lie to that. Not only the child, but his/her entire extended family sees the humanity and the charity of these Christians, Jews and Israeli doctors who donate their time and skill to saving young lives. If you still believe that reconciliation is possible between the religions in the Middle East and between Israelis and Palestinians, this is a program you can believe in.

It goes without saying that the crying need is funding. Hank's organization, 1 New Heart, while not yet a 501 C3 organization, collects its contributions through the Israeli Missions Project, which is so recognized and which sends 100% of the funds received to Hank.

I am attaching some photos which Hank sent to me via email. They show a 5-year-old Palestinian girl named Majed, who received a heart operation from Israeli doctors. You can see her family and the doctors in the operating room. I am also posting one of Hank's newsletters and the 1 New Heart brochure below. In addition, what follows below is a film clip showing the actual transportaion of a Palestinian child and her family into Israel proper for an operation. Finally, I am posting the address to which contributions can be sent. If you agree with me on the beauty and importance of this humanitarian project, I hope you will consider a contribution and pass this information on.




From 1 New Heart's brochure:


HISTORY


In 2006, the vision for this outreach was born when we met a three-year-old Palestinian girl named Jumanah, who was fighting leukemia. Jumanah’s name is Arabic for “silver pearl,” and her little life was truly a “pearl of great value” (Matthew 13:45-46).

Upon learning of the difficulties Palestinian families can face in finding access to even basic health care, we helped to raise money and awareness for Jumanah’s medical treatment. We witnessed firsthand what a powerful sign of God’s love this was for her entire family.

THE NEED

Congenital heart disease (CHD) causes the death of thousands of children in developing countries each year. Eight out of every 1000 live births around the world have some form of CHD. While vast resources have been expended in the West to treat these children, most third world countries lack a comparable infrastructure. In Palestine the doctors and hospitals are not trained and equipped to perform the most basic heart surgeries. Even in Israel there are only a few doctors that can perform such complicated pediatric heart surgeries.

WHAT WE DO

We assist in communication between West Bank children’s family members and Israeli doctors, facilitate the children’s travel to Israeli hospitals, and help offset the cost of the surgery. The doctors volunteer their time and expertise, but the costs of the operation room, equipment, the medication, the anesthesia, as well as the transportation costs of the child, have to be covered.

OUR GOAL

…is to sponsor one child per month and utilize the doors God has given us to open a way into the spiritual hearts of the families we are working with. We have the opportunity to watch new life begin through the physical changes a life saving heart surgery brings. As we build relationships with these children and their families, our main focus and goal is to share Christ’s love and His ability to change their spiritual hearts as well.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The most important thing you can do to help us in this work is to pray for us. Pray that we would have the right words to share at the right times. Pray that the Lord would continue to open up doors for us to minister to these hurting children and their families. Pray that many would come to know Christ through this work.

The sponsorship for each child’s open heart surgery is $5,000. If you, your church or organization are interested in storing up treasure in heaven by sponsoring a child, please contact us for more information. All sponsored children receive 100% of all the funds raised for their heart surgeries.

We invite you to come visit us and to catch God’s vision for changing the hearts of people in Israel and the Middle East, one child, one family, one heart at a time.


1NewHeart
www.1newheart.org
7-1 Hamalach Belavan Street
Jerusalem 93545 Israel
1newheart@gmail.com


Below are pictures of 5-year-old Majed and her family as she traveled to Wolfson Medical Center with her family and received her heart operation.











En route to Wolfson Medical Center



Arrival accompanied by her grandfather
















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From 1 New Heart's May newsletter:

Dear Friends,

Spring has arrived here in Jerusalem and with it much change and new life! It’s been a few months since we have communicated with you, and we would like to take this opportunity to bring you up to date on the work and ministry being done, as well as to give you a glimpse in to what is happening in our family life.

In our last newsletter we shared about 5 year old Majed, the little girl from Jenin who underwent open heart surgery. Miraculously she was able to go home within one week following her surgery. Unfortunately we cannot bring another child until we are able to pay SACH for Majed’s sponsorship of $5,000.

Our desire is to continue this work of compassion, helping other children in the West Bank territories receive medical treatment and heart surgery.

Part of what we do is to communicate with the children’s family members and Israeli doctors, facilitate the children’s travel to the hospital and help offset the cost of the surgery. The doctors volunteer their time and expertise, but the costs of the operating room, equipment, surgical supplies, medications, as well as the transportation costs of the child, have to be covered.

The total cost to bring children and perform open heart surgery is $10,000. for each child. This is a much reduced cost because of Save A Childs Heart (Israeli non-profit org.) and Israel’s socialized medical care. It is our heartfelt goal to sponsor one child per month but it cannot be done without the body of Christ responding to this need. For us to continue this work we need to raise half the cost which would be $5,000. for each child.

We feel so strongly about this work that, during these last three months, we have written (and re-written!) a strategic plan/proposal and recently submitted it to the BICWM (Brethren in Christ World Missions). The WM board of directors will be convening in early June and our prayer is that this work of compassion will continue for years to come.

It is with great joy we extend to you or your church this awesome opportunity to store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. All sponsored children will receive 100% of all the funds raised for their heart surgeries.

Family life is also in transition. We learned in early March that a new addition is coming soon! We are expecting our third child – the due date is sometime between November 9-15th. We all are eagerly anticipating a new baby brother or sister!

So, we thank God continually for you as we partner together to impact the land of Israel for time and eternity!

To Jesus be all the Glory!
Blessings,
Hank, Michele, AbbyRose & Levi



The DANNECKER’S serving in Israel
Prayer and Needs Update May, 2009

We serve under the auspices of Brethren In Christ World Missions. For more information, you can contact BIC, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027-0390 or in Canada; 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

Financial support can be made payable to: Clear Creek BIC, attn: Vicki Stiffler, 6150 Big Creek Rd., Clearville, PA 15535. In the memo blank, write "1 New Heart".

Dannecker family information: Mailing address: 7-1 Hamalach Belavan St. Jerusalem 93545 Israel
Skype (PA) phone #: 814-806-1014
Email: ablesmom@gmail.com OR 1newheart@gmail.com
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The website for 1 New Heart (http://1newheart.org is not yet up and running. The website for Save a Child's Heart (SACH) may be found at:

http://www.saveachildsheart.org/
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Making The Truth Known At The UN

By Findalis



The United Nations Human Rights Condemn Jews for All The Evils In the World Council set up a Commission headed by South African Judge Richard Goldstone (an attempt on their part to give the illusion of impartiality) held hearings last week in Geneva. A delgation from Israel attended to give voice to the victims of Hamas' violence.

Bearing Witness to the UN in Geneva: Noam Bedein Presents Sderot’s Case to UN Judges

by Noam Bedein

On July 6th, I traveled to Geneva to testify before the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. Participating in the delegations were Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Dr Alan Marcus the director strategic planning branch in Ashkelon, Ophir Shinhar of Sapir College, and Dr. Mirelda Sidrer who was injured during a rocket attack on a medical facility at the Ashkelon mall.

*From left to right: Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Dr. Mirelda Sidrer, Hillel Neuer and Dr. Alan Marcus.

The Israeli delegation also included Noam Shalit, who impassionedly spoke on behalf of his son, Gilad, who was abducted three years ago by Palestinian terrorists and has since been held by Hamas.

The Israeli government officially refused to cooperate with the UN mission, since the UN investigation had already formulated conclusions asserting that Israel had committed war crimes during the December-January war.

At the same time, however, the head of the UN fact finding mission, South African Judge Richard Goldstone, told the Israeli media that he would like to hear both sides of the conflict. "The aim of the public hearings was to let the face of human suffering be seen and to let the voices of the victims be heard."

In preparation for the Geneva hearing, the UN mission invited the Sderot Media Center , a Sderot NGO, to prepare material, footage and information regarding the impact of the Gaza bombardment of the Israeli civilian population in the Negev during the Gaza war. The UN Mission aimed to at obtain an unofficial Israeli perspective.

Before the UN hearing in Geneva, the Israeli delegation received a briefing from Hillel Neuer, head of NGO 'UN Watch.' Neuer provided background on the UN fact finding mission and the agenda of each judge on the UN investigating board.

During the days leading up to the testimony, it was not easy to sleep - as the only resident of Sderot and the western Negev in this delegation, knowing that there would be only 30 minutes to convey how aerial terror has devastatingly impacted the civilian population of Sderot.

At the same time, the UN afforded an opportunity for Sderot Media Center, which specializes in communicating the human story of Sderot and life under continuous rocket terror to decision makers around the world , to finally reach the UN.

While the delegation got ready to testify in the “lion’s den,” it was less than sobering to know that one of the UN judges included Professor Christine Chinkin from London. In a Sunday Times article published on January 11th , Judge Chinkin supported the allegation that “Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self defense, it’s a war crime.”

Israeli reporters in Geneva asked hard questions:

Why testify before a such a ‘neutral’ judge who claims that Israel does not have the right to defend her citizens and whose actions “ amount to aggression violating international law and human rights law?"

Why testify when the government of Israel itself has boycotted the investigation which already formulated it allegations against Israel before the investigation commenced?

However, the presence of a UN invited delegation from Israel created a precedent.

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch noted that never in the 16 years of operating in Geneva had there ever been a time when the UN invited and even sponsored a delegation from Israel to give testimony - until now.

This time, the UN provided an opportunity for ordinary people from Israel to make their voices heard across the world. It was an honor as a resident of Sderot to partake in such an event.

Yet the long road to peace and justice for Sderot and Negev residents does not end before a panel of UN judges or a commissioned report.

Residents of Israel who act as witnesses to terror against the Jewish people, are obligated to speak up and convey the experience of what it is like to live under sustained rocket attacks-defined as a terror act and crime against humanity.

*Noam Bedein in the main hall of the UN Headquarters before testifying.

After screening two short videos in front of the panel of UN judges, which depicted the 15 seconds that Sderot residents and their children have to run for their lives when the rocket alarm is activated by impending Gaza rockets, I concluded my presentation with the following thoughts and questions.

“I do not have enough fingers, to count on my hands the amount of times rockets exploded just a few meters from a kindergarten--would any other western democracy in the world tolerate even one rocket being fired towards their territory? Why is it that we must wait, until a kindergarten or classroom packed with children, is struck directly by a rocket in order for Israel to gain international support, to protect and do what is right for our own people?"

US President Barack Obama put it best when he visited a devastated home in Sderot during the 2008 campaign:

"If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same think."

There were no questions or reactions from the UN judges. We will all have to wait, along with all the residents of southern Israel, to peruse the Geneva verdict on the war when the UN Mission report will be released in September.

*For more news coverage on the Israeli delegation in the UN and SMC's presentation, click on the news sites below:

Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098377.html

Israel National News: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132246

Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443732048&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

This Kangaroo court that the UN set up came to their conclusion that Israel had no right attacking Gaza and had committed hundreds of War Crimes. But is that the truth? Let us see:

More facts or more blame?

by Anav Silverman

The UN Fact Finding Mission will likely heap more blame against Israel

The three-week Gaza war has been keeping the UN obsessively busy with months of inquiries and a fact-finding mission into supposed Israeli war crime violations.

In May, the UN came out with a report accusing Israel of “negligence or recklessness” in the Gaza war. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would seek compensation from Israel for damages amounting to $11 million to UN facilities. Led by Ian Martin, former head of human rights group Amnesty International, the UN inquiry said Israel was at fault for nine incidents where UN property was damaged.

The 184-page report blamed Hamas for one case of damage, stating that a Palestinian rocket fired at a UN warehouse had caused $29,000 in damages, while attributing all other damages to Israel.

Indeed, the report apparently did not point out the millions of dollars in damages that Hamas rockets caused in the southern region of Israel or call for an investigation into the nine Israeli schools that Gaza missiles struck during the war.

Israel’s deputy UN ambassador Daniel Carmon told Reuters that the report was one-sided. “We were really shocked to see a report where the board is limiting itself to the facts of damages only, ignoring the context, ignoring that there is war against terrorism.

According to The Australian, the UN inquiry apparently made no mention of the UN’s initial accusation that Israeli shells directly hit a UN school in Jabaliya, killing more than 40 civilians.

UN officials accused the IDF of firing a mortar rocket at an UNRWA school on January 6, killing 43 people. CNN, France24, China Daily, Indian, Express BBC World, and the Israeli Haaretz all ran headlines stating that an Israeli strike Killed 40 people at UN School. The New York Times added the word “reportedly” in its headline.

Only one international newspaper, the Canadian Globe and Mail came out three weeks later with a follow-up story to the UN allegation, entitled Account of Israeli Attack Doesn’t Hold up to Scrutiny.

Reporter Patrick Martin found that physical evidence and interviews with several eyewitnesses including a teacher in the UNRWA school yard at the time of the shelling revealed that no one inside the compound had been killed. "Those who died were all outside on a street where the mortar shells landed."

According to the Globe and Mail article, the teacher who was interviewed refused to give his name because he said UNRWA staff told him not to talk to news media.

Furthermore, the article points out that John Ging, UNRWA’s operations director in Gaza, blamed Israel for the confusion over where the victims were killed. “Look at my statements...I never said anyone was killed in the school. Our officials never made such allegations.”

‘Clerical error’

Indeed, in the European Observer (Jan. 7), Ging condemned the attack as “horrific” and suggested that Israel knew it was targeting a UN facility. “We have provided the GPS co-ordinates of every single one of our locations,” he told the BBC in response to the alleged Israeli attack on the school. “It’s very clear that these are UN installations.”

Only on February 2, 2009, did the United Nations finally admit that it had made a mistake - calling the misleading statements “a clerical error.” According to Haaretz, Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, admitted that IDF mortar shells fell in the street near the compound and not in the compound itself. “We would like to clarify that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school," said Gaylord.

Meanwhile, the damage had been done. The misleading UN statements and media coverage had led to international outrage with strong condemnations against Israel popping up everywhere.

Not surprisingly, a clerical error of such significance was simply not deemed newsworthy by much of the international press. Except for the Canadian Globe and Mail, and Israeli newspapers including Haaretz, little international media coverage was given to Gaylord’s statements.

By June, the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict was spearheading another investigation. Led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, the UN investigation has focused its investigation in Gaza, interviewing Hamas along with Palestinians. Israel has refused to cooperate in the investigation, citing anti-Israel bias by the investigation's sponsor, the UN Human Rights Council, who has issued numerous reports on Israeli treatment of Palestinians but little on the Palestinian rocket terror impacting southern Israelis.

The UN fact finding team includes Christine Chinkin, a law professor at the London School of Economics who signed an editorial published in the Sunday Times in January calling the Israeli offensive a war crime.

Come September, when the UN report is due, can one really expect an impartial, objective examination of the Gaza war? The recent comments of a Hamas official perhaps summed it best. In an AP news article (June 9), Ahmed Yousef said that he hoped the UN report would be "like ammunition in the hands of the people who are willing to sue Israeli war criminals."

These are dark days for Israel. Hamas can attack Israeli cities with impunity and the world says nothing, does nothing. But let Israel strike back and the world screams bloody murder. Hamas purposely uses schools, hospitals and mosques as rocket firing bases, training centers and ammo dumps, the media and the world give them a pass on it. Yet International Law is very clear on this issue:

Hamas exploits schools, mosques, hospitals and cultural centers to carry out its attacks in flagrant violation of article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This factor is minimized or ignored by numerous NGOs, and the emphasis is placed on Israel to avoid civilian casualties. But international law is clear: in cases of human shields, civilian deaths that result are clearly the responsibility of Hamas and not Israel.

Like usual Hamas will be looked upon as a victim of terror while the true victims will be condemned and vilified. Why? Because they are Jews. Because the world (especially those on the left) are upset that they stopped Hitler from destroying the Jews. Because the world would like to finish the job the great Muslim Savior: Adolph Hitler started, but never got to finish.

You can help change this trend. You can write, call or e-mail your Congressman, your Senator, the President, your local newspaper. Tell someone how you feel about this! Remind them that Israel left Gaza in 2005 with the promise that it will bring peace, and that it was the Palestinians who kept attacking Israel, bring upon themselves the destruction that happened in Gaza.

And if you are able to, you can support the Sderot Media Center. The few dollars you donate goes a long way. Just click here and follow the instructions.

And please, remember the people of Sderot in your prayers. Pray for the peace of Israel.

After the Smoke Has Gone

Oh my God! That's what they all say. Oh my God! Oh my God! After a lifetime of denial or indifference suddenly one finds faith. Oh my God! Confronted with the enormity of evil and the certainty of death, when no one else will answer, when no one else will do, we make our final desperate plea to our mysterious disregarded father. We are experiencing an epiphany, a sudden suspension of disbelief. And we all say the same thing, don't we? Sooner or later we all say the same thing.

Last night I watched them fall again. I watched the buildings fall. Why now, why, when confronted with the certainty of my own demise am I drawn once again to pay homage to this ghastly funeral pyre? Why resurrect the pain? The awful deed has been done. The smoke has cleared. Why do I feel this almost sacred need to relive it? Perhaps it is because of that dramatic and unequivocal title, which I suspect is somehow false and inappropriate: "102 Minutes That Changed America". Perhaps it is because I fear that America has not really changed. Not really. Not enough. The awful deed has been done. The smoke has cleared. And we have moved on. Life must go on, we tell ourselves. Once again we have withdrawn into the convenient comfort of our intellectual hubris. We have assigned the great event to history, where it sits unobtrusively on the shelf with all of those other omnipotent but disregarded historical events. And we have moved on.

But have our enemies moved on? Have our enemies forgotten us? Abandoned their murderous mission? Or are they patiently waiting for us to forget them? Counting on our notoriously short attention span? Do they know us better than we know them? Than we know ourselves? Has our anger and our fear dissipated with the smoke?

Here, once again, for those who doubt our mortal peril, we revisit the awful event. Can we still cry? Can we still call out, Oh my God!? - rg

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A Candle For The Darkness

by Roger W. Gardner

I acknowledge my deep appreciation to all of those photographers whose work I have used for this essay. I can only hope that they would approve.

Note: Best viewed on IE in full screen.

Something is happening...

Something is happening here...

something bad is happening...

people are running...

running for their lives...

they're falling from the sky...

the buildings are falling...

the buildings are gone.

Everything gone.

All those people.

Gone.

Where are you?

What do I do
without you?

Why me?
Why us?
Why now?

Why us?

We must all come together now as one.
We must embrace one another in our mourning.

We must search our souls for answers.
But first we must mourn...

Of course...

not everyone is in mourning...

in fact...







some people...

seem pretty happy...

about the whole thing,
don't they?

Then again...
there are those who say...

that we deserved it.

That we had it coming.

They say, that by fighting back,
by going to war...

we're just making everything...

worse.

And sometimes it does seem...












as though every day...

more and more people...

hate us.

Maybe if we just...

kind of...








ignored it...

or...

maybe if we..

just lit a candle...

if we lit a whole bunch of candles...

we could drive away the darkness.

My friends...

this is the darkness.

And this is the candle.

voted by Gop Hub