Israel's Medical Impact in the Boston Bombing
The United States and Israel swim in different oceans- one surrounded by friendly neighbors and the other surrounded by hostile enemies. This places the countries under differing selective pressures, pushing their evolution in somewhat different directions. In response to threats of genocide (0), Israel’s counter terrorism units and military medicine (among other services/products) have developed to a skillful level of world recognition. For example, an elite Israeli unit won the international Urban Shield SWAT competition held by the Alameda County sheriff's office (in California) in 2010 and 2011 (1). On another note, one game-changing Israeli medical advance was the “Emergency Bandage,” first used by NATO and nicknamed the “Israeli Bandage” by the U.S Army, a repeat customer (2). In more recent news, the Boston bombing’s death count was reduced with Israeli assistance. Dr. Alasdair Conn, Chief of the Emergency Medicine Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, stated that Israelis visited them to set up their hospital’s trauma response when after 9/11, the staff realized they were not prepared to handle a terrorist attack if one were to come (3). Years of Israeli doctors treating victims of terrorist attacks where bombs lined with sacks of shrapnel designed to rip into as many civilians as possible taught them hard-earned lessons which they passed on to the Bostonian doctors. Also, several of the attending physicians post-bombing were Israelis experienced with treating victims of Palestinian terror attacks (4). Just another example of the Israeli-American relationship, folks.
Sources:
(0) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163020#.UXTg1Mryo9E, http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=427
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamam
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Bandage
(3) http://www.aish.com/jw/id/BostonIsrael-Collaboration.html
*I will not be actively monitoring this thread, so any replies directed at me run the risk of not being seen or responded to.
