The Lajee Center, an NGO centered in the Aida UNRWA camp, wrote in their December newsletter:
On November 19, 1for3 and Lajee Center presented a webinar on Managing Chronic Disease in Conflict settings, featuring Health for Palestine Director Dr. Bram Wispelwey, Community Health Worker (CHW) Ashghan Awais, Asmaa Rimawi, an advanced medical student and Health for Palestine researcher, and 1for3 Director Nidal Al-Azraq. They presented data from a two-year study that revealed significant improvement in diabetes due to the Community Health Worker program. Palestinians in Aida and Azza Refugee Camps suffer high levels of diabetes and hypertension. Dr. Wispelwey put Palestinians’ declines in health in the context of settler colonialism, presenting on the violence of military occupation and comparing Palestinians’ health to that of Indigenous and Black people harmed by settler colonialism in the United States. Moreover, the Middle East and North Africa region currently has the highest rates of diabetes in the world. While the older generation of Palestinians has lower rates than the rest of the region, middle aged Palestinians have higher rates. Rates for diabetes in the West Bank are twice the global rate and more than twice the rate in Israel.
The video of the seminar shows Dr. Wispelway spending some 16 of his 18 minutes talking about his theories that Israel is responsible for Palestinians having high rates of diabetes, blaming everything from the "Naqba" to "settler colonialism" to tear gas to the Oslo Accords.
What he didn't spend much time on was the fact that the entire Arab world has high rates of diabetes.
Here's a map showing its prevalence in 2019:
The prevalence in the Palestinian territories are roughly what they are in Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It is a huge problem for the entire region.
Are those countries suffering from "settler colonialism?" Did they have a "naqba?"
Dr. Wispelsky went to Bar Ilan University of the Negev. But whether he is Jewish or not, his section of the seminar was effectively antisemitic, blaming Israel for Palestinian obesity and lack of exercise that lead to diabetes, a problem that is endemic in the entire region and has nothing to do with Israel.
Palestinians grow plenty of fruits and vegetables for domestic consumption; blaming Israel for them eating junk food is yet another example of how the "progressive" Left infantilizes Palestinians and gives them no agency over their own decisions.
The irony is that the seminar showed that a relatively simple and inexpensive community based health program can significantly reduce the prevalence of, and risk of mortality from, diabetes - which destroys the thesis that Israeli actions are responsible to begin with.
But the main takeaway from those who watched the seminar is that Israel is responsible for Palestinians' doing basic things for their own health.
Yes, blaming Israel for Palestinians' own poor health decisions is antisemitic.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
Weekend long read
-
1) At The Hill, Natalie Ecanow asks ‘Is Qatar an ally or an enemy in the
fight against terror finance?’. “While financial crime can...
The post Weekend l...
Weekend long read
-
1) At The Hill, Natalie Ecanow asks ‘Is Qatar an ally or an enemy in the
fight against terror finance?’. “While financial crime can...
The post Weekend l...
Shelly Schreter: Israel-The Curse of Wanting It All
-
[image: Shelly Schreter: Israel-The Curse of Wanting It All] Shelly
Schreter: Israel-The Curse of Wanting It All IsraelSeen.com
Shelly Schreter: Israel-The...
Kamala’s Racist ‘White Devil’ Pastor
-
After the Biden coup, Kamala phoned Rev. Amos Brown to pray for her
political campaign. Kamala, an “old timer” and “dues paying” member of
Brown’s churc...
Let's Go Back A Year
-
Using the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, which
is part of the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center, the
govern...
Elul-- Join Us for Rosh Chodesh Prayers
-
Especially during this awful war, we need to pray together to Gd, and there
are few places holier than Ancient Shiloh. Archeologists and Biblical
sch...
One Choice: Fight to Win
-
Yesterday Israel preempted a potentially disastrous attack by Hezbollah on
the center of the country. Thirty minutes before launch time, our aircraft
destr...
Yom Hashoah 5784 – 2024
-
Israel’s Yom Hashoah began at sundown this evening with the annual ceremony
at Yad Vashem with torches lit in memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of
the...
Closing Jews Down Under Website
-
With a heavyish heart I am closing down the website after ten years.
It is and it isn’t an easy decision after 10 years of constant work. The
past...
‘Test & Trace’ is a mirage
-
Lockdown II thoughts: Day 1 Opposition politicians have been banging on
about the need for a ‘working’ Test & Trace system even more loudly than
the govern...