Invitation to the Scottish Parliament to hear Larry Rich

                                                                                                     Reaching out with compassion in the Middle East

I was invited to an illustrated talk by Larry Rich, Director of Development and International Public Relations, affiliated to the Emek Medical Centre, in Afula, Israel

Larry Rich after his speech at the Parlaiment 

Mr Rich will present a positive image of today’s Israel, with no political or religious bias, simply elaborating on co-operative achievements and everyday ground-level realities that seem light-years beyond what the media reports. Israel is a tiny, beleaguered nation sharing life-saving knowledge and cutting-edge technology with neighbours, some of whom look upon Jewish people as their enemy.

Stanley Grossman, chairman of Scottish Friends of Israel 

 The reality is that much is wrong with the image presented by the international media. The Land of Israel truly lives the deeply-felt Jewish vision of ‘mip'nei tikkun ha-olam’ - ‘for the sake of the world’.

My self and Raymond, both members of SFI

The talk was held at Committee Room 2 at the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh on Tuesday, 5 November, from 6.00-8.00pm.

Unfortunately activists from Scottish Palestine Solidarity manage to get in to the event with an agenda to disrupt Larry Rich speech. But they failed as they were escorted out of the building one by one by the police.

Amazing here is a brave guy travelling all the way from Israel to tell us Scots of a sign of hope that is shinning in the Middle East, an existing liaison and hope of future cooperation between the Israelis and Palestinians. A tremendous role his Hospital plays in the region by admitting and caring for Jews and Arabs alike. 

Renaud