There’s no cure for Israel’s terminal sickness as it destroys Gaza’s health sector
Every woman has a special bond with her obstetrician, the person who delivers her babies. This was illustrated recently when the legendary singer Adele spotted her “baby doctor” in the audience at her Las Vegas concert. In scores of videos posted on social media, the Grammy Award-winner walks through the audience singing “When We Were Young”, and then spots her obstetrician. Adele burst into tears immediately.
She stopped singing and cried: “Oh my God, Colin!” before hugging the doctor. She then told the audience: “This is my doctor that gave birth to my baby. I haven’t seen you for years.” The two shared an emotional hug, as fans around them cheered and clapped. They uploaded the shock encounter on social media to share the heart-warming reaction.
The point of telling this story is to illustrate how much we love and respect the medical professionals who come into our lives when we need them most; the men and women who deliver our children, perform miraculous operations and make us well again, God Willing.
Yet as I write this I’m in the depths of despair for the well-being of paediatrician Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He has been forcibly disappeared into the brutal Israeli prison system after being arrested on Friday along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation centre.
Israeli troops stormed the hospital and forced many staff and patients outside and told them to strip despite the winter conditions. Virtually naked, they were then led away in the freezing weather, many barefoot, as shown in a brief Al Jazeera Englishvideo clip.
The last photograph of Dr Hussam, who refused to abandon his patients and colleagues, shows him walking towards the barbaric, heavily armed Israeli soldiers in their tanks with his head held high. This single image was tweeted by tens of thousands, including former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who wrote: “In just one image, we see both the power of Palestinian humanity and the moral weakness of all those complicit in genocide.” Corbin called again for an end to all arms sales to Israel.
Hussam Abu Safiya hasn’t delivered any pop star’s baby as far as I know, but as a Palestinian paediatrician he cared for the children of thousands of Gaza’s mothers who will no doubt hold and treasure many memories of him. They love him because he chose to remain in Gaza despite invitations to work outside occupied Palestine.
They, like me, will be horrified and sickened that he is now in the custody of Israel’s armed forces.
Israeli soldiers are devoid of respect for any Palestinian, let alone heroic hospital staff, regardless of their life-saving skills, qualifications or position. They believe that “self-defence” includes the right to kill children and rape prisoners. Humanity is an alien concept to such monsters.
READ: Another Palestinian baby freezes to death from cold weather in Gaza
Many of us are still haunted by the death of Dr Adnan Al-Bursh, the 49-year-old head of orthopaedics at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. He was working at Al-Aida Hospital in northern Gaza in December when he and other medics were arrested by the Israeli army for “national security reasons”. Four months later, Ofer Prison guards dragged Al-Bursh outside and dumped him in the prison yard, naked from the waist down, bleeding and unable to stand, according to a statement by Israeli human rights organisation HaMoked. Recognising him, some of the other Palestinian prisoners carried Al-Bursh to a nearby room where he died moments later.
It is feared that the surgeon was gang-raped at Israel’s Sde Teiman detention centre before being hurriedly removed and taken to Ofer. Earlier this year, an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) video showed at least 10 soldiers lining up to rape a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman who also suffered horrific internal injuries. Their army insignia clearly visible: a snake inside the Star of David; the unit known as Force 100. Established in the wake of the First Intifada, the IDF’s Force 100 is responsible for overseeing Palestinian detainees and suppressing uprisings in military prisons.
The incident sparked global outrage and revulsion around the world, but not in Israel.
Government ministers and other senior politicians took part in protests when it emerged that the 10 soldiers suspected of rape had been arrested. Proudly embracing the heinous crime, it appeared that Israelis were demanding the right to rape Palestinian prisoners, reported online magazine 972.
Quite when rape became an act of self-defence is a moot point, but IDF spokesmen are usually quite inventive when put on the spot, said Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara.
Fears are growing over the safety of Abu Safiya, whose whereabouts remain unknown since he was detained from the last barely functioning medical facility in northern Gaza blitzed by relentless Israeli bombings during a week-long siege. The IDF, without an ounce of proof or evidence, claims that the hospital was being used as a command centre for Hamas military operations. It further claims that at least 240 “terrorists” were detained, some of whom tried to pose as patients or flee using ambulances.
As for Dr Hussam, he stands accused of being a “Hamas terrorist operative”. This is a ludicrous allegation and one which has provoked outrage from human rights groups, politicians and NGOs around the world who believe that healthcare staff in Gaza are being targeted deliberately by the Israeli occupation forces.
READ: At least 7 killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza City
Israelis are experts at projecting themselves as victims while victimising and brutalising others. The apartheid state’s strength has become synonymous with the oppression of the Palestinians that provokes anger throughout the Muslim world and beyond.
Zionists told us that the national Israeli psyche was once based around cultural and religious values, and this narrative was embraced by a gullible western media. However, the torrent of lies formed around a single militaristic imperative — national security — can no longer be hidden.
Not even the dumbest journalist is convinced that Hamas ran any sort of command centre around or underneath any of Gaza’s hospitals.
To be brutally frank, we’ve more chances of finding Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq — as alleged by Messrs Bush and Blair — than Israel has of finding a Hamas command centre.
I know the IDF is lying, you know the IDF is lying, the world knows the IDF is lying, and the leaders of the Global South can see through the lies, but how long will it be before Western leaders realise that the Zionist genie is out of the bottle? That Israel is a rogue, terrorist, apartheid state?
Israeli society is cruel whether in or out of uniform. It sees nothing wrong in committing genocide; starving people; bombing schools, clinics and hospitals; arresting children; raping prisoners; and brutalising heroic surgeons, doctors and nurses. Israeli society is sick; very sick. So sick, in fact, that it is terminal, because it only sees an enemy when looking at a man like Dr Hussam Abu Safiya who is dedicated to healing and saving lives.
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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.