Exceptional Middle East story ignored by the BBC

As we mentioned here a few weeks ago, Israeli doctors at the Wolfson Medical Centre in Holon recently operated on a four year-old Syrian refugee with a life-threatening congenital heart condition. The little girl and her mother left Israel this week and the Times of Israel has a compelling article on their story. 

“Nadrah underwent heart surgery on May 8, Raha told me. The operation went smoothly, but she had to stay in the hospital for 10 days.

One day while Nadrah was recuperating, Raha took her daughter for a stroll down the hall. They didn’t walk long, as Nadrah was still weak from her operation. They reached their room and walked through the door.

A man she had never seen before was waiting by Nadrah’s bed. Raha noticed the pistol on his hip.

He began speaking in flawless Syrian Arabic. “I am Abu Salim,” he said, “and I heard you were here. You don’t know me.”

Raha was in shock.

How did Assad’s intelligence services track us to the hospital?”

Somehow, despite having an office less than an hour’s drive from the hospital, the BBC has managed to totally ignore this exceptional story of human and political interest. But it seems that Nadrah’s case will not be the last, so there may yet be a chance for the BBC to tell its audiences a story which defies the usual Middle East narrative – if it chooses to do so. 

“Other Syrian families, nervous about entering Israel, were waiting to see that Nadrah returned safely, with her identity protected, before agreeing to send their own children. Raha and Nadrah made it home on Wednesday, and on Thursday, the visa request for a second Syrian child was submitted to the Israeli government, with an invitation to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.”

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