About 90 Israeli doctors have signed a letter calling for the bombing of hospitals in Gaza.
Only last week, dozens of prominent Israeli rabbis had already assured Israeli leaders that they have a right to bomb al-Shifa’ hospital in Gaza, and this week’s letter signed by “Doctors for the Rights of IDF Soldiers” urges the bombing of any and every hospital in Gaza.
The letter states, in no uncertain terms, that due to suspicion of “terrorist activity,” the hospitals are “a legitimate target for annihilation.” They claim that “ambulances that are evacuating patients to the south in order to be treated elsewhere are at their disposal.” It does not mention that these ambulances, too, are being bombed by Israel, or that the south is also being mercilessly pummeled.
The doctors claim that “the residents of Gaza… are the ones who brought their annihilation upon themselves” — echoing the genocidal rhetoric of centrist Israeli politicians who have even claimed that “the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves.”
The doctors apply the terms “snakes,” “wasps,” and “terrorist nests” in the dehumanization of the enemy, which appears to be expanded from Hamas to the whole of the Palestinian people.
The original letter with an initial list of 9 doctors was posted today by Quds News Network, and has already been signed by an additional 83 signatories and has been circulated by various Jewish orthodox sites (such as here and here).
We have identified the initial 9 signatories below, who include various gynecologists and pediatricians, several of them with a clear religious-Zionist settler leaning and affiliation (see some details in brackets in the signatory list).
The letter
We, the undersigned, doctors who work in the healthcare system responsibly and professionally, hereby urge:
The moment that murderous terrorist organizations built murder and terrorism headquarters as an integral part of hospitals, they turned the hospitals into legitimate targets by their own hands.
For years the citizens of Israel have suffered murderous terror, while the head of the snake and head murderers enjoy complete shelter and protection, as they built terror headquarters within the hospitals, understanding that no harm would come to them.
After the Simhat Torah [Oct. 7] massacre, the many murdered and kidnapped, and the hair-raising atrocities, which we have no room here to detail and write, there is complete agreement in the Israeli security forces that the terror organization Hamas should be eradicated to dust, which is worse than ISIS.
This is the same terror organization that isn’t above cruel murder and unprecedented atrocities towards men, women, and children — therefore, any place where its men hide and/or is used for terrorist activity is a legitimate target for annihilation, including hospitals.
Whoever mixes hospitals with terrorism must understand that he has no safe place and cannot seek refuge in hospitals in order to produce terror and enjoy protection.
Ambulances that are evacuating patients to the south in order to be treated elsewhere are at their disposal.
No more! The residents of Gaza, who saw fit to turn the hospitals into terrorist nests in an attempt to take advantage of Western morality, are the ones who brought their annihilation upon themselves — terrorism must be eliminated everywhere and in any way.
Attacking terrorist headquarters located inside of a hospital is the right of the IDF [Israeli army] and its duty.
It is unthinkable that the citizens of Israel are abandoned, and arch-murderers are protected only because they are hiding in hospitals.
After the IDF repeatedly warned the hospitals to stop the cynical use made of them for terrorism, and after all citizens were asked to evacuate the area in light of the presence of terrorists, there is an obligation to destroy the wasps’ nests and the hospitals they use to shelter them, the sooner, the better.
We, the undersigned:
Dr. Tal Nir [elected ”most dedicated doctor” under COVID in 2021, orthodox Jewish Chabad member]
Dr. Audray Azran [Gynecologist, Haifa]
Dr. Shlomi Ben-Nun [Pediatrician, retired 2022, Afula]
Dr. Hannah Katan [Religious-Zionist gynecologist, founded the Family Center at the settlement of Elkana, serves as its president]
Dr. Ori Attias [Pediatrician, Intensive Care Rambam Hospital, Jerusalem]
Dr. Hannah Kremer [family doctor at the Elkana settlement clinic]
Dr. Yeruham Priner [pediatrician, Beitar Illit settlement]
Dr. Carmit Almog [specializes in Nephrology, high blood pressure, Rabin Medical Center, Tel Aviv area]
Dr. Menuha Vilk [pediatrician, Jerusalem]
I’m sure it loses something in the translation, but this reads like something written by a 13-year-old and not a group of highly trained medical professionals.
Seriously, how many time s can you use the word terror or a variant thereof before it loses any all meaning? Not to mention snakes and wasps? Are these medical doctors or middle-schoolers?
I would laugh if it was it wasn’t so terrifying coming from the so-called best and brightest Apartheid Israel has to offer.
Also worth noting, is something in this letter that I have started seeing much more of in the last week. The conflation and very loose interchangeable use of Gazan or Palestinian with Hamas and virtually no distinction made between the two.
I’ve personally lost count of how many times I’ve heard a number of news hosts (to their credit) have to clarify and correct their Israeli and Jewish-American “guests” in real time on this matter. They of course very quickly agree on the point and then return a minute later to deliberately making the exact same comparison and conflation! Not to mention how many times I’ve seen it go completely unaddressed. This is no accident.
The pro-Israel lobby would go ballistic if nearly every single guest equated the radical extremist Jewish Settler terrorists with all Israelis or all Jews. Yet we are seeing virtually no distinction being made by them when it comes to Palestinians, who they clearly view as all valid and legitimate military targets. This too is no accident. We know this because this clearly warped view of “all Palestinians are Hamas” has already successfully permeated the narrative and talking points in the pro-Israel groups in the US and in right-wing media outlets like Fox News and News Max. So their tactic is obviously working.
These doctors took an oath (the Hippocratic Oath) that they now cast aside. Clearly these Israeli doctors only value Jewish lives in this conflict. Many of Israel’s people now seem to have lost their humanity. It is a tragic byproduct of this endless colonialism.
I do hope decent people in Israel will ensure these doctors are struck off.
These doctors stand in a long and honourable tradition.
After all wasn’t the final solution initiated and presided over by the SS doctors, notably Dr Josef Mengele and before him Dr Eugene Fischer. I suggest that they form Doctors 4 Genocide and make the late Mengele their Honorary President
Doctors voting and urging for genocide! Saviours turning into annihilists! If this letter has actually been written and signed by such fellows, it speaks volumes about an alarming level of general moral decadence in Israeli society with alarming damage to the future civil society. Apathy is a double-edged sword. It hits out and then hits back.