How the Lancet Medical Journal Defends Hamas

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Dear Colleagues:

During the on-going course of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in Gaza, we have witnessed a surge of anti-Semitic activity worldwide attempting to portray Israel as the “aggressor” while simultaneously advocating for boycotts against the state and its products.

Of the many examples we have seen, it is worth noting a “letter” published by the British medical journal The Lancet which attacks and blames Israel for its war with Hamas.

The letter entitled, “Open letter for the people in Gaza” claims that, “On the basis of our ethics and practice, we are denouncing what we witness in the aggression of Gaza by Israel. We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression. We challenge the perversity of a propaganda that justifies the creation of an emergency to masquerade a massacre, a so-called defensive aggression. In reality it is a ruthless assault of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity.”

The extreme one-sidedness and partisanship expressed in the above, has illustrated a clear bias against Israel in addition, to a lack of understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict at large.

Consequently, we as a community of scholars devoted to legitimate public discourse especially, when it comes to the Middle East have issued a statement highlighting the fallacies of the Lancet article. Further, we have exposed two of the co-authors ties to Palestinian NGO’s all which have contributed to the skewed reality they have depicted.

To date, we have collected 2,082 of signatures if you have not signed on we encourage you to do so:

Sign the Petition Denouncing the Falsehoods Expressed in the Lancet Journal of Medicine Regarding Operation Protective Edge

The Arab-Israeli conflict is by no means black and white and portraying it as such is dishonest and does a great disservice to those who truly want to understand the region. It is our obligation as academics to conduct serious research based on facts and not polemics.

As always, we welcome your feedback and article submissions.

Sincerely,

Asaf Romirowsky, PhD

How the Lancet Medical Journal Defends Hamas

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AUTHOR

Asaf Romirowsky

Asaf Romirowsky PhD, is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). Romirowsky is also a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Professor ​[Affiliate] at the University​ of Haifa. Trained as a Middle East historian he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King's College London, UK and has published widely on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and American foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as on Israeli and Zionist history.

Romirowsky is co-author of Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief and a contributor to The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel.

Romirowsky’s publicly-engaged scholarship has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The American Interest , The New Republic, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Tablet among other online and print media outlets


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