PA Inadvertently Releases Name of Possible Donor to Israeli Hospital

YERUSHALAYIM
Medical staff at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. (Moshe Shai/Flash90, File)

The Palestinian Authority denied that a PA official had donated money to an Israeli hospital. WAFA, the official PA news agency, quoted PA officials “denying media reports that a senior Palestinian official donated money to a non-Palestinian hospital. Government spokesman Yousef al-Mahmoud rejected claims that Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amr had donated money to any hospital outside Palestine after receiving treatment there, describing the reports as ‘baseless.’”

The denial was issued in the wake of a story in the Jerusalem Post that stated that a “senior PA official” had donated “tens of thousands of shekels” to Haifa’s Rambam Hospital. That article identified the official as M., a man who had been treated for cancer at the hospital several months ago. According to the article, M. was impressed by the number of Palestinian children treated at the hospital, and decided to contribute money to assist the institution in keeping up its work.

“When I came to Rambam, I saw a medical team caring for patients, but I also saw the suffering of the sick children,” the report quoted M. as saying. “Palestinian, Israeli, Syrian and other children are treated there for serious illnesses and need all the help they can get. Both Israeli and Palestinian societies suffer from the damage of violence. I want a world in which we can all contribute to peace and health, take care of children, save lives, share knowledge and even train Palestinian doctors at Rambam.”

While the Post article did not mention the official’s identity, the PA’s statement did. Abu Amr, it said, “was well and working normally, noting that he was not aware that Abu Amr was receiving any kind of treatment at Palestinian or foreign hospitals.” The PA statement “slammed the media reports as part of false and slanderous rumors.”

 

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