• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

News Infinitum

Infinitum.tech operates seven days a week. On our website you will find attractively presented lifestyle content.

Three Gulf states are asking for Israel’s help in the fight against Corona

May 11, 2020
manama

Three Gulf states cooperate cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>with Israel’s health system. One of them has recently asked for help in installing an advanced telemedicine system in the fight against Corona, writes Times of Israel.

According to Yoel Hareven, head of Sheba Medical Center’s international division, top representatives from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were already in regular contact with them before the outbreak of the Corona crisis. In March, a senior member of the royal family in the Emirates paid a private visit to the medical center in Ramat Gan and since then there has been regular contact.

A third Gulf state without strong ties to Israel has recently asked Sheba Medical Center for help in installing telemedicine solutions in the treatment of long-distance Corona patients, which Sheba, according to Hareven, specializes in. Hareven would not say which Gulf state it is, but it is probably Kuwait.

-There is a growing readiness to interact with us – also openly in the field of health. It happens slowly, but it happens, maybe not at the [intergovernmental] level as we would have liked, but things happen, says Hareven

Hareven is sure the task they have been given by the unnamed Gulf state will lead to future cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation between the two governments.

-First you get through a small crack in the door, later you get your foot through , then the body follows and eventually the head also comes through. This is actually the beginning of a very fascinating journey – for the entire Israeli public, not just in the medical field or Sheba Medical Center, says Hareven.

According to Hareven, the Gulf states recognize the strength and innovation of Israel’s healthcare sector and will increasingly say so openly.

-How do we go one step further [to establish diplomatic ties]? Politicians and diplomats must find out. We are active and we provide the platform for the process, says Hareven.

Rabbi Marc Schneier has close ties in the Gulf and he helped establish the link between Sheba and the Bahraini government. According to Schneier, three out of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council are now committed in some way to Israel’s health care system.

Golfstater-1024x664
The picture shows United States Minister of Tolerance Nayef bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan with Rabbi Marc Schneier. (Photo: @ChristerSfeir)

-It is 50 percent representation in the Gulf. This is a very significant development. During the Corona crisis, I have been in touch with all my friends in the Gulf, members of the royal families, ambassadors and others. They continue to express a desire to cooperate and work cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>with Israel, especially when it comes to the health sector, says Schneier.

According to Schneier, many Gulf decision-makers have notions of a partnership that connects the economic capabilities of Arab countries with the brain capacity of Israel – so to speak.

-I have heard it repeatedly from my friends in the Gulf: the Corona crisis provides a real opportunity for joint cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation, says Schneier.

Last week, UN Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Lana Nusseibeh said that although she did not know of any concrete health-related cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation between them and Israel around Corona, there was nothing to prevent it from happening.

https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1257729650333286402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1257729650333286402ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fthree-of-six-gulf-states- reach-out-to-israel-for-help-with-pandemic% 2F

-I’m sure there’s a lot of room for collaboration. I do not think we would be against it because I really think the public health debate should be free of politics. We must all try to gather our knowledge about this virus. The fight against Corona should not be limited by borders, even before the Corona crisis, Israeli doctors attended workshops with the Emirates, Nusseibeh said during the online conference hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

Nusseibeh congratulated Israeli epidemiologists and doctors in their potential “breakthrough-2/' target='_blank'>breakthrough” in finding an anti-Corona treatment with antibodies.

-It is very exciting for all of us… because we are also working on similar therapeutic agents, so there is potentially room for collaboration there, said Nusseibeh

In June 2019, Sheba’s CEO, Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, was among a handful of Israelis invited to the “Peace to Prosperity” conference in Bahrain, where the United States unveiled the first economic part of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan (Trump’s peace plan).

Kreiss later said he had held “many meetings” with “various senior leaders from the Persian Gulf states” in Manama.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *