FEROZE SIDHWA, feroze.sidhwa@gmail.com, @FerozeSidhwa
Sidhwa is a trauma surgeon who volunteered at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. See pieces and interviews he has given.
He said today: “Former President Donald Trump, with his typical level of restraint, recently stated that Israel will cease to exist if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected President in November. The real question is whether the Palestinians of Gaza will survive under either a Trump or Harris presidency. Whether the American media starts asking the presidential candidates serious questions about Gaza, where the United States may be supporting an actual genocide, may be the deciding factor in the answer to that question.
“Israel has barred all independent journalists from entering Gaza since October 7, 2023. For this reason, healthcare workers who have worked in Gaza are some of the only independent observers who have been admitted to Gaza since October 7. On August 20, at the Democratic National Convention, a group of physicians and surgeons who have worked in Gaza gathered to discuss with reporters what they saw there: children shot, women and infants starved, and an entire society systematically destroyed. They called for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. In July, the Biden-Harris administration ignored an open letter signed by 45 American doctors and nurses who have worked in Gaza, stating they saw the same criminal violence with their own eyes, and also calling for a ceasefire and arms embargo. Physicians in Canada and the United Kingdom wrote similar letters to their own governments with nearly identical in-person observations and political requests. Scores of American political appointees and career civil servants have resigned in protest of the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies towards Israel and Gaza.
“Meanwhile Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and virtually every significant human rights and humanitarian organization on Earth agrees that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, is denying basic medical care to the people of Gaza, and in general is conducting an assault on everything that makes life possible in the besieged territory. The International Court of Justice has ruled not only that Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza, but also that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is itself an illegal annexation and must be ended as quickly as possible.” See new UN General Assembly resolution which is expected to be voted on in the new session of the General Assembly this month.
Sidhwa added: “Given all of this, the U.S. media should not be satisfied by platitudes from the candidates such as ‘Israel has the right to defend itself,’ vows ‘not to be silent,’ and claims to be ‘working on a ceasefire’ that has yet to materialize after nearly a year of genocidal violence in Gaza. The media should insist that candidates justify their position that Israel should continue to receive enormous shipments of armaments, even beyond the 50,000 tons delivered just since October 7 despite credible and ongoing reports that the Israeli military is starving women and babies and shooting children. The media should insist that the candidates explain why they disagree with statements made by American lawmakers about the supplemental military aid bills to Israel. For example, Democratic Representative Don Beyer: ‘I am deeply concerned that Israel’s government is on a path of increasing isolation that jeopardizes Israel’s long term security and is directly at odds with core American values.’ Or Representative Joaquin Castro: ‘All of us have seen the tragedy of Gaza. We’ve seen how Netanyahu’s government has used U.S. weapons to kill indiscriminately and create famine. I will not participate in this carnage.’ Or Representative Pramila Jayapal: ‘My no vote is not a vote against Israel. It’s a vote for the security of Israelis and Palestinians.'”
