In an article published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, four doctors – Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, Dr. Akiva Leibowitz and Prof. Naftali Kaminski, all of whom live and work in the United States (the last three are also Israeli) – urged the international medical community to break the conspiracy of silence about the complete destruction of the Gaza Strip's medical system during the recent war.
The authors quoted reports by Physicians for Human Rights, the UN and the World Health Organization saying Israel's wartime operations, at the very least, meet the legal definition of crimes against humanity under international law.
The article elicited many responses. One particularly vocal one came from the head of the cardiology department at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Prof. Amit Segev. I read his response and tried to understand what he was so upset about.
Segev made the following arguments in his letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, which he also posted on social media: First, it's wrong to criticize the IDF. Second, the data presented in the article is false. Third, since the authors live overseas, they're disconnected from what's happening in Israel. And fourth, the authors neglected to cite the context – Hamas' attack on October 7 – in which all this happened.
The first two arguments don't require much attention. It's possible they were written while his blood was boiling, since it's clear that any public organization has to be subject to criticism, and to say that reports by the organizations cited in the article are false is a populist claim.
There have been many incidents over the last two years that, when I first heard about them, I prayed with all my heart would prove to be false, because I, too, like many Israelis, grew up on the ethos that the IDF is the most moral army in the world. Two that I remember in particular are the killing of 15 medical workers in March and the attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in August.
The third argument is often made when Israelis who choose to live outside Israel dare to voice criticism of the country or its government. The characteristic response is "you left the country, so you have no right to talk." And they are usually accused of being disconnected.
Yet the reality is a bit different. When it comes to this cursed war, it would be disconnected to say that people who live in America, and who therefore funded it with their taxes, aren't entitled to express their opinions on it.
But Segev's most troubling argument is about the context in which all this happened. Is there really any context in which the inconceivable number of around 20,000 dead children in Gaza would be acceptable to him? Or the destruction of Gaza's health system? Or barring the entry of medical equipment and drugs for two years?
One could say the opinions of any individual aren't the issue. The essential question is, where were the heads of Israel's health system, and why did they keep silent?
Where were the Israel Medical Association heads, hospital directors and deans of medical schools? They are people who know very well what it means when a child with diabetes has no access to insulin, a patient suffering from kidney failure has no access to dialysis or an incubator is lacking when a baby is born prematurely.
Did these questions not enter their heads? Did they not echo to the point of giving them no rest? Did they approach their government of atrocities at any time over the last two years, insist on providing an expert opinion and say that in the name of their oath as doctors, which they swore when they began their careers, they are obligated to give the best possible medical care to everyone, regardless of the context?
What, really, is so upsetting about the article that was published in the journal? Perhaps it's the fact that this important article placed a mirror in front of us, and what it showed us was unbearable?
Roni Tamari is an Israeli-American oncologist.