An anti-Israel pupil group is sponsoring a lecture at SUNY Downstate Medical Heart in Brooklyn on Wednesday that accuses Israelis of committing well being care “genocide” in Gaza — scary outrage from Jewish docs who say it’s propaganda and “blood libel” in opposition to Jews.
The occasion — co-sponsored by College students for Justice in Palestine — is titled “CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: The Decimation of Palestinian Healthcare within the Ongoing Genocide and the Persevering with Legacy of Settler-Colonialism.”
Visitor audio system embrace Drs. Feroze Sidhwa, Simon Fitzgerald, Abdel Aziz Al Bawab, and lawyer Diala Shamas — who can even testify in opposition to the “genocide” of Gazans and “struggle crimes” they declare Israel is committing.
Medical doctors with the Jewish American Medical Affiliation mentioned the one-sided panel reeks of “medical propaganda” and antisemitism leveled at Israeli Jews.
One of many panelists, Sidhwa, cared for sufferers in hospitals within the Gaza Strip for 2 weeks between March and April.
In a New York Occasions opinion piece, he wrote about treating kids shot within the head in a harmful, catastrophe zone beneath Israeli bombardment.
“Of the numerous issues that stood out about working in a hospital in Gaza, one obtained to me: Practically day-after-day I used to be there, I noticed a brand new younger little one who had been shot within the head or the chest, just about all of whom went on to die. 13 in complete. On the time, I assumed this needed to be the work of a very sadistic soldier situated close by,” Sidhwa wrote within the piece.
“However after returning dwelling, I met an emergency drugs doctor who had labored in a unique hospital in Gaza two months earlier than me. `I couldn’t imagine the variety of children I noticed shot within the head,’ I instructed him. To my shock, he responded: ‘Yeah, me, too. Each single day.’”
Yael Halaas, president of the American Jewish Medical Affiliation and a New York physician, claimed Sidwha was accusing Israeli troopers of concentrating on kids.
“It’s antisemitic. It’s a blood libel leveled on the Jewish nation. It’s medical propaganda,” Halaas instructed The Put up.
Irving Raphael, a retired orthopedist who carried out his medical coaching at SUNY Upstate Hospital in Syracuse and is a member of the Jewish Medical Affiliation, mentioned he has complained about comparable Israel-bashing occasions at that campus as properly.
He mentioned the phrase “settler colonialism” used to advertise the occasion is code for individuals who don’t acknowledge Israel, the Jewish homeland, or its proper to exist.
“It’s a disregard of historical past. It’s blatant antisemitism. It’s propaganda,” Raphael mentioned.
“I’m dissatisfied however not shocked that SUNY has not taken sturdy motion in opposition to this occasion.”
SUNY Downstate, in an announcement, acknowledged that the SPJ-sponsored occasion will happen.
“To be clear this isn’t an occasion sponsored by the administration at SUNY Downstate. Any occasion that promotes hate, bigotry, or antisemitism is disgusting and doesn’t signify SUNY’s values,” a SUNY Downstate spokesman mentioned.
“Campus management is conscious of the occasion and might be carefully monitoring the state of affairs to make sure that all content-neutral time, place, and method restrictions are adopted. The security of our campus group is our prime precedence.”
The nationwide College students for Justice in Palestine group and several other particular person chapters have applauded Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel.
SJP has been concerned in quite a few anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests on and off faculty campuses.
It has 275 chapters within the US and Canada, together with at SUNY Downstate.
The Anti-Defamation League, a prime Jewish civil rights watchdog group, mentioned College students for Justice in Palestine “has justified terror assaults in opposition to Israel, significantly the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught, engages in antisemitic rhetoric and propaganda and is a number one campus organizer of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns and anti-Israel protests on college campuses.”
“It has been a central organizing node for the scholar encampments that proliferated throughout American universities and faculties within the spring and summer time of 2024, amid a surge in antisemitic exercise and sentiment on US faculty campuses.”
Some faculties — together with Columbia College — have suspended or banned SJP from campuses for rule-breaking exercise as antisemitism has risen on faculty campuses all through the nation.
Elsewhere within the Empire State, the College of Rochester mentioned Tuesday it’s investigating vandalism by which Jewish professors and others had their faces placed on threatening “Needed” posters that had been posted throughout campus.
“This act is disturbing, divisive and intimidating …We view this as antisemitism, which won’t be tolerated at our College. This isn’t who we’re. This goes in opposition to the whole lot we stand for and we now have an obligation to reject it,” Rochester College President Mangelsdorf mentioned.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has denounced campus antisemitism and commissioned a examine to stop Jew-hatred and different discrimination on the Metropolis College of New York.
“When Hamas attacked Israel on October seventh, they dedicated a horrific act of terror. Governor Hochul totally condemns anybody who would glorify terrorism and believes that disgusting discourse has no place in New York State,” a Hochul spokesperson mentioned.
“Since taking workplace, Governor Hochul has modified state regulation to crack down on hate crimes and can proceed doing the whole lot attainable to maintain New Yorkers protected.”
