jerusalem (ap) | Israeli universities are offering to help U.S. students caught in the path of Hurricane Katrina, and Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service will fly 15 tons of food and aid supplies to victims, the non-governmental agency said.
MDA said a consignment of water, mattresses, bedding, clothes, baby food and diapers would be flown to the United States and distributed in the disaster area by the American Red Cross. The Jewish National Fund helped collect the supplies and coordinate rapid air transport to get the help to the Gulf Coast region.
Also, a delegation of Israeli military officers and Health Ministry staffers was set to leave for the United States this week to coordinate a planned governmental relief effort, the military said.
Israel, whose emergency services have been honed by decades of war and attacks by Palestinian bombers, is offering medical teams from ZAKA and a field hospital.
The universities are offering places to students from Tulane University in New Orleans, whose courses have been disrupted by flooding. Additionally, Hebrew University is offering full tuition scholarships to students affected by Hurricane Katrina at its campus in Jerusalem, available for the fall 2005 semester.
The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency said in a statement that the offer was open to students of all denominations, also noting that there were around 2,000 Jewish students in the New Orleans area.
Bar Ilan University, near Tel Aviv, said it was offering special scholarships to students whose studies were disrupted by Katrina. The scholarships, details of which are shortly to be published in American newspapers, will cover tuition and living expenses, the university said.
Israel’s relief efforts came as authorities continued to search for at least two Israeli citizens, who at press time, were missing in the New Orleans area.