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Chinese Donate Medical Supplies to Israel
(Times of Israel) Nathan Jeffay - As a plane laden with medical aid from China touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday, it was revealed that much of the cargo had been donated by former tourists and academic exchange alumni who have fond memories of Israel. Additional flights coming to Israel with medical goods from China would also be carrying donations, alongside goods that Israel is buying. "There are so many Chinese people who want to help Israel," said Betty Xi, a visiting scholar at Peking University and a graduate of Israel's Bar-Ilan University. She raised $10,000 in 72 hours, mostly from people who have become academics after postdoctoral fellowships in Israel. "We have such good memories of being at Bar-Ilan in Israel and were so deeply influenced by the spirit of the university, so we really wanted to do something for the university," she said by telephone from Beijing. She recalled that Israeli help was received in China when the coronavirus crisis was at its height there. Yossi Ben Shitrit, strategic adviser to the Israeli consulate in Shanghai, said people are inundating the diplomatic mission with medical materials for shipping to Tel Aviv. "We got donations from several entities. There are very rich people in China who were willing to donate, people who love Israel. In China it's opposite to other places in the world, in that there isn't anti-Semitism but rather lots of admiration for Israel and Jews."