I reported here https://facebook/MelanieLatest/posts/765300960178727 on the expose of two out of the five signatories to an “Open Letter for the People of Gaza” published by The Lancet medical journal during the recent conflict there. This letter accused Israel of “defensive aggression”, massacres of the innocent and crimes against humanity under the “masquerade” of a military emergency. The two doctors in question, Paola Manduca and Swee Ang, were revealed by NGO Monitor to have circulated a video in which the white supremacist David Duke made viciously antisemitic claims. This scandal followed other material published by The Lancet over the years maliciously demonising Israel with pro-Palestinian distortions, libels and smears. With notable courage, wisdom and humanity, Rambam hospital in Haifa responded to the video/letter furore by inviting The Lancet’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr Richard Horton – who had never previously visited an Israeli medical facility despite many trips to Gaza – to visit the hospital to see for himself the outstanding work being done there by and with Arabs and Jews, both doctors and patients. With an equivalent display of courage, Horton accepted the invitation and has spent the past three days on the Rambam campus. He saw the high percentage of Arab doctors at the hospital, the Palestinian children routinely brought in for treatment from Gaza, the five year-old Syrian boy who had been shot in the neck during the fighting, whose father had rushed him to the IDF hospital on the Israel-Syria border and who had been taken from there to Rambam where his life had been saved. Horton also took part in a series of discussions and debates. According to a Rambam press release, these included a discussion on Science & Medicine as a Catalyst for Peaceful Coexistence, coordinated by Professor Zaher Azzam, Rambam’s Head of Internal Medicine and Vice-Dean of the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine; and a presentation by Professor Asa Kasher, a distinguished ethical philosopher, who spoke on the Ethics of Armed Conflict and Responsible Scholarly Journalism during which the ethics of publishing the Gaza letter in The Lancet were openly discussed. Today, Horton delivered a passionate address at Rambam. You can watch it below. He starts by thanking the Rambam senior staff for their “courage, openness and generosity of spirit in inviting me here in such circumstances”. He thanks everyone he met for their “continuous encouragement and insight”. He says he has “learned a great deal” in three days, and sees Rambam as a model “for partnership between Jews and Arabs, as a centre offering an open hand to the people of Palestine and as a place offering a unique vision of a peaceful, productive and diverse future between peoples”. He goes on to say that “I deeply, deeply regret” the “completely unnecessary polarisation” caused by the letter, and to express his abhorrence and condemnation of the views expressed in the video. “The Lancet is, always was and, under my leadership, always will be 100 per cent open, more than that, welcoming, of research and work submitted to us from colleagues and friends in Israel”. And outlining his hopes for a reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, he invites Rambam’s staff to join The Lancet in furthering the cause of health care “in a fresh start for a new and different future”. There are two things to say about this. The first is to note that Horton, who one may speculate must be under enormous pressure from The Lancet’s owners Elsevier to repair the enormous damage to its reputation, chose his words today extremely carefully. He did not apologise for, or even regret, publishing the vile Gaza letter. He merely regretted its polarising effect which he had “never intended”. Nor did all he had seen and heard at Rambam make him acknowledge the error of his previous thinking about Israel and the calumnies he had published about it over the years. Set against that, however, Horton did seem genuinely moved by his kind and courteous reception, and to have been equally genuinely struck by the partnership and care shown between Jews and Arabs at the hospital. From the heartfelt remarks that formed the bulk of his address, it would seem he regards health care as a potential antidote not just to the Ebola virus but to nuclear war and global warming. It follows that, as he said, he sees the Palestinians as overwhelmingly people who just want to live in peace and safety and have nothing to do with violence. There is much truth in that; but also much naivety. Nevertheless, what his address showed above all is that he is someone who is motivated not by malice but by idealism – wanting to help bring about a better future for all. Before his trip, he didn’t seem to realise that the Israelis were not the problem but part of that solution. Now, thanks to Rambam’s initiative, Dr Horton may just be at the start of an enlightened and civilising learning curve. We must wait to see what The Lancet now publishes over the coming weeks and months before judging whether Rambam’s experimental medicine has neutralised this particular poison. https://youtube/watch?v=GKp1qpZNAaY&feature=youtu.be
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:51:54 +0000
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