The beautiful image is popping up on social media newsfeeds around the world.
A nurse cradles a baby with a tender expression on her face. One would think she is the baby’s mother — but she is not.
Her name is Ula Ostrowski-Zak, and according to news reports, she breastfed the the nine-month-old baby during her shift at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital just last week.
The little boy’s mummy had been involved in a nasty accident, which saw the death of his father, and left her with a serious injury. She had not been wearing a seat belt.
Jewish mum breastfeeds Palestinian baby: There is so much emotion captured in this image.
The baby, who was only slightly injured, had reportedly been crying for seven hours in the emergency room of the hospital. He had rejected a bottle of milk when it was offered to him.
Jewish mum breastfeeds Palestinian baby: Proving love and motherhood are universal
At their wit’s end, the little one’s aunts asked nurse Ostrowski-Zak to help them find a volunteer to nurse the child. But this kind-hearted lady — a breastfeeding mum herself — said she could do it herself.
“They asked me if I could help them find someone who would breastfeed the baby. As a nursing mother, I didn’t hesitate and suggested that I do it myself,” Ostrowski-Zak told Ynet. “His aunts were surprised that a Jew agreed to breastfeed him, but I told them that every mother would do it.”
“I fed him five times,” she added. “His aunts embraced me and thanked me. They were really surprised and told me that no Jewish women would agree to nurse a Palestinian baby they did not know.”
She added that she is a great believer in breastfeeding, and breastfed her own children for more than two years. “And therefore I had milk to give him too,” she tells the Times of Israel.
She said the baby relaxed and looked into her eyes as she fed him.
This wonderful human being also posted an appeal to other breastfeeding sister-mums on an Israeli Facebook page to assist with nursing the little one.
The response she got was incredible, with women willing to travel for hours to breastfeed the little darling until he is discharged.
The baby’s mother remains in serious condition.
(The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century.)
We can’t stop marveling at the beauty of breastfeeding and the unconditional love it inspires in every breastfeeding mum. Motherhood… breastfeeding… they certainly cross all boundaries of race and religion, right?