Two reputable medical journals recently allowed crude anti-Israel propaganda to
masquerade on their pages as legitimate academic discourse:
1)
The
British Medical Journal
― hailed by the Financial Times as 'one of the world's top four general
medical journals' ― included in its Oct. 16 issue an article entitled 'Palestine: The assault on
health and other war crimes.' The author, Dr. Derrick Summerfield, compares the IDF's
acts to those of the
9/11 terrorist hijackers:
The Israeli army, with utter impunity, has killed more unarmed
Palestinian civilians since September 2000 than the number of
people who died on September 11, 2001.
The only actual similarity between the two is the death count ― approximately
3,000. Summerfield labels all Palestinian casualties 'unarmed
civilians' ― denying the fact that (1) the clear majority of
Palestinians who have died since September 2000 were terrorists and armed
combatants (according to the
Institute for Counter-Terrorism), and (2) no Palestinian civilian
has been deliberately killed 'with impunity' ― in stark contrast to 9/11.
Summerfield goes on to claim that since some Palestinian minors have died from
wounds to the upper body and head:
Clearly, soldiers are routinely authorised to shoot to kill
children in situations of minimal or no threat.
Beyond falsely branding Israel as guilty of 'war crimes,' deliberate
child-killing, illegal colonization and apartheid, the article makes absolutely no
mention of how Palestinian terror and political corruption have
contributed to the unfortunate state of the Palestinian heath system.
If you agree this article is inappropriate for a respected medical journal,
send comments to
British Medical Journal editor Kamran Abbasi:
click
here
UPDATE: The
British Medical Journal has published
a
rebuttal to Summerfield's article.
2) The June 2004 edition of
Diabetes Voice
― a quarterly publication of the International Diabetes
Federation
― included a report on that disease in the Gaza Strip. Here's
the abstract, which appeared in bold print at the top of the article:
The year 2003 marked the 55th anniversary of the Nakba
(cataclysm) of the Palestinian people. In 1948, according to the
United Nations Conciliation Commission, 760,000 Palestinians were
evicted from their cities and villages, hundreds of which were razed
to the ground. What remains of the Palestinian people's land is now
split between the West Bank of the river Jordan and Qita Ghazzah
(Gaza Strip), and remains occupied by Israeli military forces and
settlers. In 2003, the second uprising, or Al-Aqsa Intifada against
this occupation entered its third year. Panagiotis Tsapogas, Medical
Co-ordinator of the Greek section of Mdecins Sans Frontires (Doctors
Without Borders) in Gaza, 2002-2003, reports on the difficulties
faced by Palestinian people with diabetes in Gaza, and makes a call
for the provision of improved diabetes care in the region.
NGO-Monitor, which
promotes accountability of non-governmental organizations active in
the Mideast conflict,
responded:
This short abstract consists of a blatantly political attack that
has little or nothing to do with diabetes. The one-sided and highly
distorted version of history that is presented is based on the
Palestinian version of events and vocabulary, and immorally ignores
the brutality of Palestinian terrorism. It is also entirely
inconsistent with the goals proclaimed by Diabetes Voice, the
International Diabetes Federation, and Medecins Sans Frontires.
The International Diabetes Federation (known, ironically, as the
IDF) published an
official apology for the abstract quoted above, and the editor-in
chief of the journal resigned over the matter. The abstract was re-written for the publication's
archived, website version of the article.
* * *
Not
only medical journals have contributed to this disturbing trend of inserting
anti-Israel rhetoric into ostensibly neutral academic literature.
Academe,
the journal of the American Association of University Professors, included an
update on Palestinian universities in its Sept.-Oct. 2004 issue (see it
here
- scroll down to the grey box). While lamenting the 'infamous 'segregation
wall'' and roadblocks that limit access to
Palestinian schools, author Mary Gray cites Ramallah's BirZeit University as
an example.
Gray gives no explanation whatsoever why
Israel implemented these strictures ― to deny terrorists free access to
Israel. Moreover, Gray ignores the fact that BirZeit is
one of the very centers of Palestinian incitement to terror
― Hamas won a recent student body election there by
featuring
exploding models of Israeli
buses and claims of prowess based on its success in killing more Israelis than the other parties.
If you agree that this review of the state of Palestinian higher education
lacked appropriate balance, send comments to Academe: academe@aaup.org
HonestReporting
