Israel Matzav

Mohammed lives in Tel Hashomer

I have a troll on Twitter whose bio describes him as an 'activist for human rights.' I don't bother to answer him because when a troll has 29 followers and you have 4,789, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to give him exposure by responding to him. So I let him vent in privacy knowing that 30 people or less are actually seeing what he says. Regardless, it will be interesting to see whether and how he responds to this story.

You see a story like this, and you have to wonder why the 'human rights' organizations seem to have no interest. Oh wait, I don't have to wonder. They can't find a way to blame Israel for the marriage partners chosen by the 'Palestinians,' for the birth defects that result from those choices, for the fact that Muslims are allowed to have more than one wife, or for the fact that 'Palestinian' society thinks it's Sparta. So the so-called defenders of 'human rights' just don't care about a kid like Mohammed. Besides, Israel is paying for his care anyway....

Born in Gaza with a rare genetic disease, Mohammed’s hands and feet were amputated because of complications from his condition, and the 3½-year-old carts about in a tiny red wheelchair. His parents abandoned him, and the Palestinian government won’t pay for his care, so he lives at the hospital with his grandfather.

...

Mohammed’s plight is an extreme example of the harsh treatment some families mete out to the disabled, particularly in the more tribal-dominated corners of the Gaza Strip, even as Palestinians make strides in combating such attitudes.

It also demonstrates a costly legacy of Gaza’s strongly patriarchal culture that prods women into first-cousin marriages and allows polygamy, while rendering mothers powerless over their children’s fate.

Mohammed was rushed to Israel as a newborn for emergency treatment. His genetic disorder left him with a weakened immune system and crippled his bowels, doctors say, and an infection destroyed his hands and feet, requiring them to be amputated.

In the midst of his treatment, his mother abandoned Mohammed because her husband, ashamed of their son, threatened to take a second wife if she didn’t leave the baby and return to their home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, Farra said. In Gaza, polygamy is permitted but isn’t common. But it’s a powerful threat to women fearful of competing against newer wives.

Now Mohammed spends his days undergoing treatment and learning how to use prosthetic limbs.

His 55-year-old grandfather cares for him. Mohammed’s Israeli doctors, who’ve grown attached to the boy, fund-raise to cover his bills, allowing him and his grandfather to live in the sunny pediatric ward.

But it’s not clear how long he’ll stay in the hospital, or where he’ll go when his treatment is complete. As a Palestinian, Mohammed is not eligible for permanent Israeli residency. Yet his family will not take the child back, the grandfather said. His parents, contacted by The Associated Press, refused to comment.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: disabled persons, Gaza, Hamas, human rights, human rights activists, human rights NGO's, Palestinians

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:12 PM