A group of 500 doctors, including a number of Nobel laureates, have accused the editor and publisher of the British medical journal, The Lancet of “grossly irresponsible and damaging editorial misuse of The Lancet for political purposes,” in its coverage of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The main issue of the complaint revolves around a vicious “open letter” published during last summer’s Gaza war. The letter accused Israel of “military onslaught on civilians in Gaza under the guise of punishing terrorists.” The letter failed to mention Hamas’s rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
The new statement, issued by a group called Concerned Academics, claims the anti-Israel letter “consists of numerous vicious and deliberately inflammatory falsehoods, omissions and abusive dishonesty, which have no place in any responsible publication.”
It goes on to demand that editor Richard Horton and publisher Reed Elsevier “comprehensively retract the article and formally apologize for their grave breach of editorial ethics.”
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The Lancet has repeatedly come under fire for its politically-charged articles on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The latest case, however, appears to be the most damaging to the journal’s reputation. Two of the signatories of the open letter were later discovered to have distributed videos sympathetic to the views of David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard.
In an apparent acknowledgment of the crisis caused by the open letter, Horton made a personal visit to Israel several months after its publication. Following the visit, Horton told The Times of Israel, that open letter “did not convey the level of complexity that is the reality in Israel.” However, he refused to retract the letter.
The Independent called the statement by Concerned Academics a serious threat to the publication – and, amazingly, to free speech itself:
Observers say it is the most serious threat to The Lancet and free speech in academia since the journal’s first campaigning editor, Thomas Wakley, faced a series of lawsuits after attacking the incompetence, nepotism and greed of the medical elite shortly after it was founded 192 years ago.
The Independent, however, doesn’t understand the concept of free speech, which is exactly what the 500 doctors exercised when they issued their statement. Apparently, “free speech” is only for those who want to criticize Israel, even with false statements. And those who challenge those falsehoods in an open and public statement are somehow threatening the free speech of others.
HonestReporting Managing Editor Simon Plosker said:
Claiming that freedom of speech is under threat is a smokescreen to hide the real issue. The Lancet’s anti-Israel agenda has been exposed and challenged and it appears that the medical journal has no legitimate answers.
Retracting a vicious and inflammatory anti-Israel letter is not an assault on freedom of speech – it is simply the right thing to do and the only action that can restore any ounce of credibility to The Lancet.
