Why were West’s doctors outraged about Ukraine but silent about Gaza?

Palestinian doctors rally in support of Gaza, in Hebron’s city center in the occupied West Bank, 15 November 2023. (Mamoun Wazwaz / APA Images)

In the medical world, the oath to value life and to do no harm resounds universally. Yet a concerning discrepancy emerges when examining the Western medical community’s recent response to the massive atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza.

Many medical professionals and institutions remained and continue to remain silent regarding the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Unlike their outspokenness on the Ukrainian crisis, several medical professionals have no comment when it comes to Israel’s attacks on hospitals, doctors and civilians in Gaza.

This silence extends beyond neutrality. At this point, it seems to be an endorsement of Israel’s massacres on the people of Gaza.

Since 7 October, Israel has killed 254 healthcare workers. The World Health Organization recorded 181 attacks on the health system in Gaza, including 23 damaged hospitals.

Professionals in various fields who have advocated for a ceasefire and denounced the mass killings have faced a range of repercussions. They are often labeled anti-Semitic or they face professional consequences.

Yet those who remain silent or cheer on the genocide are deemed “professional.”

Shockingly, around 1,000 Israeli doctors openly called for Israel to target hospitals in Gaza. This would entail the murder of injured Palestinian civilians and healthcare workers.

How is it that doctors are taking on such an active role in genocide and colonization?

How do these doctors, who witness firsthand the daily suffering of patients, refuse to open their eyes and speak out against genocide?

Hatred of Palestinians

The hateful language coming from doctors is astounding.

A specialist in the UCLA healthcare system openly supported the killing and collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, whom he called “inbred.”

Such dehumanizing comments would raise serious doubts about any individual’s ability to provide unbiased care, and it calls into question a doctor’s fundamental capacity to treat fellow humans with dignity.

Others, meanwhile, have justified the killing of Palestinian doctors who choose to stay with their patients in the face of danger.

One individual who identifies himself as an orthopedic surgeon on X (formerly Twitter) rationalized the murder of nephrologist Dr. Hammam al-Louh by stating that he was instructed to evacuate: “He was told to evacuate. No other army on the planet warns noncombatants like Israel does.”

This skewed perspective concerning the ethical obligations of medical professionals in times of conflict is highly concerning.

Medical journals ignore Israeli atrocities

Such commentary justifying Israeli attacks on hospitals and residential homes might be expected on social media. But it also appears in respected medical journals, like JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.

A November 2023 article in the journal asked the question: “Even if it might be legal, is it morally justified to strike a medical facility based on intelligence that enemy fighters might be hiding inside along with injured children?”

The authors answered that medical professionals have “differing opinions” on questions like this.

That same month, BMJ Global Health published an editorial titled “Violence in Palestine demands immediate resolution of its settler colonial root causes,” which advocated for a ceasefire.

The letters to the editor that followed accused the journal of bias and asked for the article to be removed or amended.

The article only aimed to spotlight the severe toll of the conflict on Palestinian lives – an aim that aligns with the journal’s responsibility to underpin health inequities in Gaza as it did in similar wars.

The Lancet did not publish an October 2023 letter signed by 3,000 global healthcare professionals urging a ceasefire in Gaza for humanitarian reasons. However, the journal did publish a call endorsed by over 1,500 Israeli health professionals demanding the immediate release of Israeli captives.

How to resolve such unequal treatment? It raises serious questions about the journal’s priorities in promoting peace and addressing humanitarian crises.

Moreover, The Lancet announced the convening of a “commission on medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust” to examine “the important role that health professionals played in formulating, supporting, and implementing inhumane and often genocidal policies.”

If only the journal were to examine its own role in the promotion of the Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

Outpouring of compassion for Ukraine, silence on Palestine

The disparity in the reaction to Palestinian deaths and Israeli deaths becomes even more evident when we look at how medical organizations have behaved over the past two months.

When contacted by a trauma surgeon to speak out against the bombing of health facilities in Gaza, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), responded: “The ACS does not issue statements about specific conflicts or actions.”

However, with regard to Ukraine, the ACS addressed the “injury and death on a large scale” there and stated that “several ACS members traveled to Ukraine, offering patient care for the injured.”

Adhering to the same double standards, the American Medical Association (AMA) shut down a resolution that called for a “ceasefire in Israel and Palestine in order to protect civilian lives and healthcare personnel.”

On 9 November, the AMA issued the following statement: “It is critical that medical neutrality is observed because physicians and healthcare professionals must have the ability to carry out their work and administer urgent care to those in need.”

This may be the AMA’s stance when it comes to Palestine, but the association is anything but neutral when it comes to Ukraine.

“The AMA is outraged by the senseless injury and death the Russian army has inflicted on the Ukraine people,” said Gerald E. Harmon, then the president of the AMA, in March 2022. “For those who survive these unprovoked attacks, the physical, emotional and psychological health of Ukrainians will be felt for years.”

Organizations like the World Health Organization and the Red Cross did not respond to the pleas of help from Palestinians who were seeking to evacuate.

Such organizations were created to operate on battlefields, but when Palestinians need them, where are they?

When an Israeli airstrike killed Dima Abdullatif Mohammed, a 29-year-old WHO employee, and her husband and 6-month-old son, the WHO posted an oblique message that Dima “died today when her parents’ house in southern Gaza … was bombed.”

Why does the WHO refuse to name Israel as the aggressor in an attack that killed one of their employees? Instead, they lament the “loss” of doctors and civilians without specifically stating who is responsible for such “loss.”

These double standards are disheartening and raise questions about the commitment of such organizations to justice.

Medical professionals, journals and organizations need to reevaluate their ethical standards and assess how to adopt a more equitable and compassionate approach toward conflicts against vulnerable populations.

*Sewar Elejla was formerly a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. She is now a Canada-based researcher.

Posted in War | Leave a comment

presentata/submitted tu BMJ on 1/12/2023

Caro editore,
hai giustamente illustrato che gli organismi delle Nazioni Unite hanno chiesto la 
cessazione totale delle operazioni militari su Gaza, hanno fatto appello alla Corte penale 
internazionale, 
in vista di una carneficina di donne e bambini (il 70% delle oltre 15.000 vittime) 
come mai prima nel secolo e che ha preso di mira le infrastrutture e il personale medico
Dopo una pausa, tutto questo ricomincia.

Le richieste di protezione del personale sanitario da parte dei professionisti medici non hanno 
trovato eco nell’Associazione medica israeliana, nelle associazioni mediche nazionali 
e nella World Medical Association; 
sono rimasti in silenzio, nonostante la chiara presa di mira dei servizi sanitari. 
Hanno ignorato il sacrificio di vite umane (più di 160 vittime) delle équipe mediche e non 
hanno espresso solidarietà né sostegno per la loro abnegazione in una situazione disastrosa.
I dilemmi etici dei professionisti di Gaza, privi di mezzi per una adeguata anestesia  per 
alleviare il dolore e per ridurre le infezioni post trauma, dovrebbero interrogare i professionisti 
medici e costituire la base per richiedere protezione e rendicontazione. 
Altre centinaia di bambini e adulti hanno perso la vita negli ospedali, 
aggiungendosi a quelli uccisi dalle armi.

Non è stato dimostrato che Al Shifa fosse la sede del comando centrale di Hamas, 
e comunque come ciò implica attacchi a tutte le (29/35) strutture sanitarie nel nord di Gaza?
Dall'8 ottobre, tutti sono stati strangolati tagliando acqua, elettricità, carburante, cibo 
e tutte le forniture mediche, minacciati se non venivano chiusi, 
poi colpiti direttamente e il personale arrestato o sfollato con la forza fuori dalla struttura.

Riassumendo i principali eventi: 17 ottobre bombardato il cortile dell'ospedale Alhi; 
Amici turchi per cancro, gli ospedali Eyes, Wada, Pediatric Nasser e Rantissi colpiti e costretti 
a chiudere, l'ultimo con sfollamento forzato del personale e delle famiglie, 
mentre i bambini non trasportabili sono stati lasciati incustoditi; 
l'ospedale di Awda e l'ospedale di Aqsa ripetutamente danneggiati dai colpi, con numerose 
vittime; L'ospedale indonesiano e quello di Shifa hanno entrambi colpiti più volte
distruggendo intere sezioni, uccidendo infermieri e altre persone.
Colpiti direttamente macchinari essenziali, sale operatorie, generatori di ossigeno, 
pannelli solari e unità di terapia intensiva; 
il personale veniva tenuto prigioniero mentre i corpi dei morti si accumulavano nei loro locali, 
quando l'ospedale era diventato rifugio per migliaia di sfollati.

Nonostante l’abnegazione del personale, nel nord di Gaza non rimangono strutture mediche 
e maternità pienamente funzionanti. 52 su 75 ambulatori di assistenza primaria e 
servizi di dialisi e malattie non trasmissibili per adulti sono costretti a chiudere. 
Le facoltà di medicina e di scienze a Gaza sono state distrutte. 
Più di 100 membri del personale dell'UNWRA sono stati uccisi. 
Sono state dismesse più di 50 ambulanze.
Quel che è peggio, non è una cosa del tutto nuova o inaspettata: dal 2014 l’IDF ha attaccato 
ospedali e strutture educative, compromettendo la sopravvivenza e il futuro di tutti. 
Durante i 17 anni di assedio di Gaza, i servizi sanitari sono stati costantemente compromessi 
attraverso la negazione di strumenti e forniture, la limitazione dei permessi di formazione e 
di accesso per i professionisti stranieri, come documentato dalle Nazioni Unite 
e dalle principali ONG (1). Dal 2021 questo divieto è stato il più severo e la crisi economica 
dovuta al blocco ha provocato una diminuzione del numero degli studenti universitari 
di medicina e scienze.
Il cessate il fuoco temporaneo ha mostrato l'immensa devastazione anche degli ospedali, 
resa ancora più triste perché gli attacchi agli ospedali sono stati raccomandati 
anche da 100 medici israeliani (2) in violazione di qualsiasi diritto ed etica internazionale.

Non dovrebbero tutti i professionisti e le loro associazioni chiedere finalmente in coro
 un cessate il fuoco totale, incondizionato e duraturo, condannare la distruzione delle 
strutture sanitarie che moltiplica le morti, riconoscere l’abnegazione dei colleghi di Gaza, 
affermare che è stato commesso un crimine di guerra e lamentare anche la forzata 
dispersione del lavoro accumulato, dell'esperienza e della manodopera investita nel sistema 
sanitario di Gaza che difficilmente può essere ricostruito in breve tempo? 
non dovrebbero forse sostenere il diritto umano inalienabile alla cura del popolo di Gaza? 
non dovrebbero forse aiutarli impegnandosi con forza ad andare oltre la 
carità temporanea e a sostenere risoluzioni stabili?
english

Dear  Editor, 

you aptly illustrated that UN bodies asked for full stop of the military operations on Gaza, appealed to the ICC, in view of a carnage of women and children (70% of the 15.000 plus victims) as never before in the century and targeting of health infrastructures and personnel. 

After a pause, this is just starting again.

Calls to protect health personnel by medical professionals, were not echoed by the Israeli Medical Association, national medical associations, and the World Medical Association; they remained silent, regardless of clear targeting of health services. They ignored the sacrifice in lives (plus 160 victims) of medical teams and expressed no solidarity and support for their abnegation in the dire situation. 

The ethical dilemmas of Gaza professionals lacking means for proper anesthesia, pain relief and for reducing post trauma infections, should interrogate medical professionals and be ground for requesting protection and accounting. Hundreds more children’s and adult’s lives were lost in hospitals, adding to those killed by the weapons. 

It was not proven that Al Shifa was the location of central command of Hamas, and anyhow how this implies attacks on all (29/35) health facilities in the North of Gaza? 

Since October 8, all were strangled by cutting water, electricity, fuel, food and all medical supplies, menaced if did not close, then directly hit and personnel arrested or displaced forcibly out of the facility. 

Summarizing major events: October  17 Alhi hospital courtyard bombed; Turkish friendship cancer, Eyes, Wada, Pediatric Nasser and Rantissi hospitals hit and forced to close, the last with forcible displacement of the personnel and families, while not transportable babies were left unattended; Awda hospital and the Aqsa hospital repeatedly damaged by hits, whit many victims; Indonesia hospital and Shifa -both hit many times destroying whole sections, killing attending nurses and others. Essential machinery, surgical theaters, oxygen generator, solar panels, and ICUs directly hit; personnel kept captive while bodies of the dead accumulated in their premises, when hospital had become shelter for thousands of displaced people. 

Regardless of abnegation of personnel, no fully functional medical facilities and maternities remain in the North of Gaza. 52 out of 75 primary care clinics and adult not communicable disease and dialysis services forced to close. The medical and science faculties in Gaza were destroyed.  More than 100 UNWRA personnel was killed. More than 50 ambulances taken off use.

Worse, this is not totally new or unexpected: since 2014 IDF attacked hospitals and education structures, impairing survival and future for all. During the 17 years siege of Gaza, health services were constantly impaired through denial of instruments and supplies, restricting permits for training and of access for foreign professionals, as documented by UN, major NGOs (1). Since 2021 this ban was the tightest, and the economic crisis due to the blockade induced decrease in the number of university medicine and science students.

The temporary ceasefire showed the immense devastation also of hospitals, made more sad because attacks on hospital was recommended also by 100 Israeli doctors (2) in contravention with any international law and ethics.

Should not all professionals and their associations, finally chorally ask a full unconditional and long lasting ceasefire, condemn the destruction of health structure which multiplies deaths, recognize the abnegation of the Gaza colleagues, appreciate that a war crime has been committed and lament also the forced dispersal of accumulated work, experience and labor invested in the Gaza’s health system which can hardly be reconstructed in short time? should they not uphold the inalienable human right of care for the people of Gaza? should they not help by standing strongly to go beyond temporary charity and advocate for stable resolutions?

Paola Manduca, Geneticist, retired Associate Professor University of Genoa, Italy

paolamanduca@gmail.com 

References

1-  https://www.icrc.org/en/document/gaza-protecting-healthcare-conflict

-https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/israelpalestine-operation-protective-edge-gaza-13-june-26-august-2014 

– https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-i-gaza-conflict/report-co-i-gaza

2- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-doctors-group-calls-for-bombing-al-shifa-hospital-in-gaza/3044872

– https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-doctors-letter

Posted in War | Leave a comment

“Soldati”, testo “Come d’autunno sugli alberi le foglie” di Ungaretti

title Soldiers,

text:” As in autumn the leaves on the trees” by Ungaretti an Italian poet

this poem of teen age memory  kept running in my head this morning listening to the news from IDF that put Gaza, again under fire.

Apparently, Israeli refused to take back the hostages elderly people and the corpses of the mother and two young children that died in captivity and the live husband -father of them. One MUST wander why. May it be because the corpses of the young family who had become a symbol of hostages to be freed would show they were hit by the IDF attacks on Gaza? and the father may deplore and recall the accident publicly? I do not know, but it is for questioning.

So, rather that accepting them, Israeli started again bombing and already at 4pm more than 100 victims and claimed 200 Hamas positions hit, and surely a whole line of civilian  housing in Kan Younes. The only Hospital of capacity in Kan younes cannot receive all the causalities, already.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF condemns the resumption of fighting in Gaza, saying: “Today, those in power have decided that the killing of children would recommence.”

The United Nations human rights chief says the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is “catastrophic,” with the situation now “beyond crisis point.” “I urge all parties and states with influence over them to redouble efforts, immediately, to ensure a ceasefire — on humanitarian and human rights grounds,” Volker Turk says in a statement.

Paola Manduca NWRG

Posted in Uncategorized, War | Leave a comment

Daily and cumulative report of the martyrs and in the Gaza Strip – wounded

page1image48189296

State of Pales+ne
Ministry of Health
Health Emergency Opera+ons Center Center

State of Palestine

Ministry of Health Public Health Emergency Operation

Daily and cumulative report of the martyrs and in the Gaza Strip – wounded

page1image48185968

the daily report :First

page1image48188464

21N/1u1/m20b2e3rs

of martyrs and their distribution by type and gender

page1image48189504

Classification by category

Classification by gender

Martyrs for a day

the hospital

childre n

wome n

men

Female s

Males

0

Indonesian

0

Kamal Adwan

0

Shifa

28

22

45

40

55

95

Aqsa-Al martyrs

0

9

3

9

3

12

Naser

0

0

1

0

1

1

European

0

Al Najjar

0

Emirati

49

59

108

Total

. Numbers of wounded and their distribution

n

page1image48198448

Classification according to severity

Classification by category

Classification by gender

My day is wound ed

the hospital

Minor

Mediu m

Seriou s

childr en

wom en

men

Femal es

Males

0

Indonesia

0

Kamal Adwan

page1image48226016

page2image48203392

State of Pales+ne
Ministry of Health
Health Emergency Opera+ons Center Center

State of Palestine

Ministry of Health Public Health Emergency Operation

0

Shifa

48

40

28

26

40

50

43

73

116

Aqsa-Al martyrs

24

15

5

3

17

23

17

26

43

Naser

10

90

82

23

46

133

56

126

182

European

11

3

0

3

3

8

5

9

14

al Najjar

0

Emirati

55

106

214

121

234

355

Total

page2image48213376

There is still a lack of information in :Note – Shifa and Indonesian Hospitals-Al

page2image48213584

The cumulative report from the beginning of the aggression :Second until 11/21/2023

Numbers of martyrs and their distribution by type and gender

page2image48213792

Classification by category

Classification by gender

Cumulat ive martyrs

the hospital

childre n

wome n

men

Female s

Males

1852

Indones ian

130

175

284

223

359

619

Kamal Adwan

4891

Shifa

888

1005

1163

1464

1601

3067

Aqsa-Al martyrs

417

454

551

661

761

1422

Naser

72

69

177

109

209

318

Europea n

page2image48151584