Monday, June 24, 2024
From Ian:
The U.N.’s Latest Insult Against Israel May Be Its Worst
The U.N.’s Latest Insult Against Israel May Be Its Worst
Sympathy for Israel has long been in short supply at the United Nations, but the world body has outdone itself this time.In San Francisco, Doctors Feud Over ‘Do No Harm’ When It Comes to War Protests
That’s really saying something, considering its disgraceful treatment of Israel over the past eight months. After the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas resulted in over 1,100 deaths and hundreds raped and taken hostage, Israel rightly declared its intent to destroy those responsible and rescue the hostages. Yet virtually every day since, the U.N. seemingly has done everything possible to protect Hamas from the consequences of its barbaric acts.
Now U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has listed “Israeli armed and security forces” alongside repressive governments and terrorist groups guilty of “grave violations affecting children” in conflict in 2023.
Yes, in the immediate aftermath of October 7, the United Nations condemned the attack in the “strongest terms.” But before the calendar turned to November, the secretary-general was saying the attacks didn’t happen in a “vacuum,” U.N. experts were voicing alarm at the plight of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza, and the General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”
After that came U.N. accusations that Israel was causing starvation, accusations of war crimes, giving the Palestinians elevated privileges in the General Assembly, echoing Hamas’s false casualty data, and a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution designed to pressure Israel into supporting a cease-fire that would ensure the survival of Hamas.
Through this process, the U.N. member states refused to adopt resolutions condemning Hamas for its terrorism. Over and over, U.N. officials have neglected to properly place blame for the conflict and suffering on Hamas. For instance, a U.N. commission of inquiry report just declared that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes since October 7, but that Israel also committed crimes against humanity against the civilian population in Gaza.
Ignored is the fact that Hamas instigated the conflict, uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, steals aid meant to relieve suffering, and perpetuates the fighting by refusing to release the hostages. The report from a U.N. commission of inquiry even outrageously blames Israel for not stopping the October 7 attack and protecting its citizens.
While the death toll in Gaza is tragic, it is the intent of Hamas to place civilians in harm’s way. Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar recently stated his belief that more civilian casualties help Hamas undermine Israel internationally and considers them “necessary sacrifices.” Where is the U.N. condemnation of this callous disregard for Palestinian civilians?
Indeed, Israel can do nothing right in the eyes of the U.N. Even rescuing hostages from Hamas is deemed lamentable. Just see the reaction of U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese to the June 8 rescue of four hostages. She said that the rescue “should not have come at the expense of at least 200 Palestinians, including children, killed and over 400 injured by Israel and allegedly foreign soldiers, while perfidiously hiding in an aid truck.”
And now we have the latest insult, with Guterres, for the first time, listing Israeli armed and security forces alongside the armed forces of Burma, Russia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen, and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and the Taliban as parties that “commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict.”
Dr. Kanal has dozens of relatives living in Israel, including one who hid from Hamas for hours at a music festival on the day of the attack and another who works in forensics and had to identify the bodies of dead children. His grandfather survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, with his forearm branded by the Nazis.
Soon after he sent the email questioning a cease-fire resolution, Dr. Kanal learned that someone had forwarded it to another U.C.S.F. doctor, Rupa Marya, who practices internal medicine and said she focuses on how history and power affect health. She criticized his email on X multiple times over several months without naming him.
But later, in a Substack post, Dr. Marya did refer to him by name and called his email an “expression of anti-Arab hate” that prompted doctors of South Asian and North African descent “to say they do not feel safe in his presence.”
Dr. Kanal said that he was shocked a colleague with whom he had never spoken had blasted him so publicly. He met with university leaders multiple times, but he said they took no action. He then filed a complaint with the school’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, which responded that Dr. Marya’s speech was protected and closed the complaint.
“It’s not the words of my colleague that leave me feeling unwelcome and frankly unsafe here at work,” Dr. Kanal said. “It’s the persistent unwillingness of my leaders to clearly denounce them and ensure my inclusion in this broad community here at U.C.S.F.”
The university did respond to a different post by Dr. Marya. In January, she said on X that “the presence of Zionism in U.S. medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity” as she shared another person’s post about being “terrified” for “Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, South Asian and Black patients” being treated by Zionist doctors and nurses.
The university, without naming Dr. Marya or quoting her post, said in a statement that the notion that Zionist doctors are a threat to their patients was both antisemitic and “a tired and familiar racist conspiracy theory.”
In a written response, Dr. Marya said the statement by U.C.S.F. that addressed her post was “a disingenuous attempt to silence perspectives they don’t like” and that she has never felt, in her 22 years on the job, “the kind of repression” that she has since Oct. 7.
She said she called out Dr. Kanal because his email was the first time she had heard “a doctor put forward an argument to continue the killing of innocent people.”
“It shocked me to see this and it is a violation of a fundamental ethical cornerstone of our profession to do no harm,” she wrote.
If the doctors can agree on anything, it is that the university administrators have done too little to quell tensions and address complaints.
A U.C.S.F. spokeswoman, Kristen Bole, said the university and medical center are working hard to ensure a healing environment for its patients and respect the free speech rights of its employees. She said that Sam Hawgood, the chancellor who oversees both the school and hospital, has convened meetings with faculty to hear their concerns and has issued public statements denouncing intolerance several times.
She declined to address the specifics of how U.C.S.F. has addressed particular complaints. Mr. Hawgood declined a request for an interview.
Rick Sheinfield, a Jewish lawyer who has seen doctors at U.C.S.F. for 30 years, said that he filed a complaint with U.C.S.F. in January over Dr. Marya’s posts. He was told in April that his case was closed with no action taken.
He said that he and his family have received excellent medical care there — from heart surgery to the births of his two children. He is unsure if he will remain a patient, but said he was certain of one thing: If he was starting to look for medical care in San Francisco now, he would strike U.C.S.F. from his list.
It was not so much the posts of one doctor that bothered him, he said, but what he saw as indifference from the larger community.
“I don’t think they would tolerate this if it were medical conspiracy theories alleging such hateful things about other groups,” he said. “But they are tolerating this.”
