In 1959, Liberian President William Tubman broke his glasses. Liberia had no eye doctor, while consulting one in London required a three-week wait. Tubman turned instead to Israel for help. Isaac Michaelson, chief of ophthalmology at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, flew to Monrovia and examined the president. Within a year, Hadassah opened a 30-bed ophthalmic hospital in Monrovia and began training Liberian staff in Jerusalem. Michaelson also required Hadassah’s senior ophthalmology residents to serve for two years in Africa. Altogether, 48 Hadassah ophthalmologists built clinics in Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, and Rwanda. Michaelson estimated that these missions treated one million patients and performed 30,000 operations before African governments severed ties with Israel in 1973. A single pair of broken glasses became Israel’s unlikely gateway to Africa.

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro copied the model but inverted its purpose. During his tenure, Havana stationed 1,500 physicians in 25 countries—more doctors abroad than the World Health Organization itself fielded. Cuba sent one civilian aid worker overseas for every 625 inhabitants; Washington sent one for every 34,704. By the late 1980s, 46,000 Cuban specialists had worked in at least one other country. These medical brigades bought votes at the United Nations, exported a socialist agenda, and draped a bloody, repressive Communist dictatorship in a white coat. Although Cuba remains an economic wreck, its white coats bought Havana a generation of grotesquely undeserved prestige.

The State of Israel must........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)