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    An open letter for the people in #Gaza
    ▻http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2961044-8/fulltext

    En attendant l’étasunien “New England Journal of Medicine,”

    We denounce the myth propagated by Israel that the aggression is done caring about saving civilian lives and children’s wellbeing.

    Israel’s behaviour has insulted our humanity, intelligence, and dignity as well as our professional ethics and efforts. Even those of us who want to go and help are unable to reach Gaza due to the blockade.

    This “defensive aggression” of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity must be stopped.

    Additionally, should the use of gas be further confirmed, this is unequivocally a war crime for which, before anything else, high sanctions will have to be taken immediately on Israel with cessation of any trade and collaborative agreements with Europe.

    As we write, other massacres and threats to the medical personnel in emergency services and denial of entry for international humanitarian convoys are reported.6 We as scientists and doctors cannot keep silent while this crime against humanity continues. We urge readers not to be silent too.

    Gaza trapped under siege, is being killed by one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated modern military machines. The land is poisoned by weapon debris, with consequences for future generations. If those of us capable of speaking up fail to do so and take a stand against this war crime, we are also complicit in the destruction of the lives and homes of 1·8 million people in Gaza.

    We register with dismay that only 5% of our Israeli academic colleagues signed an appeal to their government to stop the military operation against Gaza. We are tempted to conclude that with the exception of this 5%, the rest of the Israeli academics are complicit in the massacre and destruction of Gaza. We also see the complicity of our countries in Europe and North America in this massacre and the impotence once again of the international institutions and organisations to stop this massacre.

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    • @kassem
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      Israel–Gaza conflict
      ▻http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673614614434.pdf?id=iaaD69XBPzfP9aX3doGGu

      Suivant la « lettre ouverte » publiée par le Lancet, certains collègues l’ont critiqué en l’accusant, au mieux, de « faire de la politique », et au pire d’être « tout simplement antisémite ». Ici une réaction de médecins juifs d’Afrique du Sud,

      We write as Jewish health professionals in South Africa in response to the debate on the war in Gaza.1 Many of the letters have been critical, sometimes viciously so, of The Lancet for airing this debate, labelling it “inappropriate for a peer-reviewed medical journal to publish purely political, inaccurate, and prejudiced pieces”2 and have gone on to equate the original call by Paola Manduca and colleagues1 as “anti-Jewish bigotry, pure and simple”.2

      We disagree and are disturbed at the lack of insight of many of the criticisms that seem to focus on a narrow view of humanitarianism out of touch with current scientific and ethical thinking about the human rights obligations of health professionals. For example, the idea that “Medicine should not take sides”3 and that provision of medical care to Palestinian victims of the war represents a sufficiently ethical response4 is extremely problematic. Even more so is the argument that accuses those who speak out against the consequences of the war for civilians as inciting hate or introducing politics “where there is no place for it”.3

      Remaining neutral in the face of injustice is the hallmark of a lack of ethical engagement typical of docile populations under fascism.5

      More recent understandings of the role of humanitarianism in health (often involving noble and courageous actions) have highlighted the limitations of non-engagement as a moral choice and have argued that apolitical approaches that focus on emergency relief are wholly inadequate.6,7

      As South Africans who witnessed the worst excesses of state brutality under apartheid, we would have failed our professional duties had we not spoken up against ethical and human rights violations committed against civilians by an abusive state.

      We most certainly did not have the opportunity to air such views in our country’s medical journal, which suppressed public statements by concerned health professionals and labelled such appeals for justice and human rights as “political”.8 In its 1997 investigation, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission highlighted the abysmal ethical failings of the health professions in challenging apartheid medicine and the violations of human rights. History has proved us correct in our estimation that health workers should not stand by while injustice leads to the death and injury of civilians in a conflict that could be prevented.

      We therefore wish to express our support for your decision to permit a discussion in the columns of The Lancet on the professional, ethical, and human rights implications of the current conflict in Gaza.

      We believe it entirely appropriate that health professionals speak out on matters that are core to our professional values and that The Lancet provides an independent and respected platform for such engagement. Thank you for allowing voices to be expressed that would otherwise be suppressed by prejudice, politics, and a partisan view of the ethical and human rights responsibilities of health professionals.

      All the authors were harassed, victimised, or detained for being anti-apartheid activists. LL, DS, SF, SU, LB-R, and SG signed an open letter calling on South Africa to expel the Israeli ambassador during this current conflict.

      *Leslie London, David Sanders, Barbara Klugman, Shereen Usdin, Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven, Sharon Fonn, Sue Goldstein
      leslie.london@uct.ac.za

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