To the Canadian Medical Association: Self Defense is not Genocide

To: the President of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA)

Re: Oct. 25^th 2024 Petition to Protect Healthcare Workers in Palestine, Condemn Israel’s Attacks on Hospitals in Palestine, and to Divest from Israel

We write you in the spirit of upholding the mandate of the CMA, to serve the interests of its members and maintain the health of Canadians. The petition cited above is rife with misinformation. Acceding to the petitioners’ demands would threaten professional collaboration, cause harm to Jewish physicians and learners, and to the Canadian public at large.

The tragic consequences of all wars include civilian deaths, physical and psychological trauma, massive displacement, deterioration in population health, and destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure. We share the distress of the petitioners as these events play out in Gaza, but they fail to acknowledge that this war was started by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Government of Canada and most Western countries and is supported financially and militarily by the Islamic Republic of Iran.  In their petition, they make no mention of Hamas, who on October 7^th 2023 broke a ceasefire, launching massive salvos of missiles into Israeli cities followed by an unprecedented brutal invasion across the Gaza border. Thousands of their highly trained elite commandos massacred civilians, committing atrocities including mutilation, burning people while alive, vivisection, torture, and murder. They kidnapped hostages as young as 9 months of age and as old as men and women in their 80s. Israel was forced to respond to defend its citizens from Hamas’ openly espoused intent to repeat these atrocities “again and again”. Were Hamas to admit military defeat, lay down arms and return the hostages, the war would end immediately.

Targeting Hospitals and the Health Care System

The petitioners falsely allege that Israel commits war crimes by targeting hospitals with the intention of killing health care workers and patients, and deliberately destroying Gaza’s health care system. This ignores irrefutable evidence, including video, that the targeted health care facilities are those being used as command and control centers, and that some of the doctors, like UNRWA Aid Workers, teachers and journalists, were Hamas fighters and collaborators, including members of the Nukhba force that led the massacre on Oct. 7^th.  The Geneva Conventions and the laws of war state that civilian facilities, including hospitals, become legitimate targets when they are used by combatants as theaters of war.  Medical misinformation is being deliberately weaponized by Hamas supporters.

Targeting Civilians

Accusations against Israel of collective punishment and of wanton killing of civilians in pursuit of their war aims are dis-proven by the facts. Hamas deliberately maximizes suffering and death of its own civilians by embedding their soldiers and weaponry in densely populated towns and cities. They cynically use civilians as both human shields and human sacrifices. All non-combatant deaths are tragic, but Israel’s actions have resulted in one of the lowest ratios of civilian to combatant deaths in the history of urban warfare, even accepting the suspect figures published by the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Genocide

The signatories of the petition demand that the CMA divest from Israel based upon several spurious accusations, including that Israel is committing genocide. This is a cynical inversion of reality, given that the openly stated ambition of Hamas, the Islamic Republic of Iran and  Hezbollah in Lebanon,  is to wipe Israel,  which contains half of world Jewry, off the map. Intention is a key condition to determine if a war is genocidal.  The Israeli Government’s expressed goals for the war in Gaza are to return the hostages from brutal captivity and to dismantle Hamas’ military and administrative capabilities, so that they will never pose a threat to Israeli civilians again. Clearly, this is not genocidal intent. Ironically, many of the Israeli residents slaughtered in their border communities were peace activists , who volunteered to take Gazan children for medical care in Israel.  Unfortunately, the UN, mainstream media and NGOs have been complicit in spreading these demonizing  libels and false allegations.

The petitioners point to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling to buttress their allegation of genocide. In fact, the Chief Justice of the ICJ at the time, Joan Donaghue, stated that the ICJ has not concluded that Israel is guilty of genocide. The case was submitted by South Africa, a country with a dismal rating of 41 out of 100 on the internationally recognized Corruption Perception Index, and which ranks well below Israel in the Human Rights and Rule of Law Index. South Africa is also the country that ignored an international criminal arrest warrant for Omar Bashir for war crimes in Sudan, sheltering him and spiriting him out of the country.

Analogy to Russia- Ukraine War

The petitioners draw an analogy to Russia’s war crimes in its brutal campaign in Ukraine. In doing so they invert reality by characterizing Israel as the aggressor, rather than Hamas. Russia initiated the war in Ukraine, Hamas initiated the war in Gaza. Just as Russia attacked  civilians in Kiev and other cities without warning, Hamas attacked Israeli cities and civilians. Just as Russia kidnapped Ukrainian children, Hamas kidnapped Israeli children (as well as women and the elderly). Just as Russian soldiers raped Ukrainian women, Hamas raped Israeli men and women. And yet the CMA is asked to censure the defenders, not the perpetrators.

Divestment

Divestment is one of the integral planks of the discredited “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement against Israel, which predates the war in Gaza by decades, and has been rejected by the Canadian parliament. BDS singles out Israel for opprobrium and ignores other conflicts in which actual genocides have occurred, such as those in Syria and Darfur. The goal of the BDS movement is not to promote peace between Palestinians and Israelis. It is to destroy the Jewish State through the Big Lie, a program of sustained de-legitimization and demonization.

Our very own University of Ottawa attempted to boycott a world renowned Canadian medical  researcher, Dr. Daniel Drucker for the crime of being a Zionist.  Should Canadians stop using life saving Ozempic,  COVID Vaccines, or  Cardiac Stents because the technology was developed by Israelis or their Zionist supporters? These examples demonstrate the threat BDS poses for the whole world.

We do not ask the CMA to make any statements or take any actions in support of Israel. On the contrary, we believe that the CMA must remain apolitical, and not sow discord among its members by expressing opinions on issues that are outside its ambit and are deeply divisive to its members and to our society at large. We trust that you will reject this ill-informed and ill-advised petition, and continue to focus on the CMA’s role of building a sustainable, accessible health care system for all Canadians.

This letter was written by Doctors Ted Rosenberg, Cynthia Lazar and Jerome Teitel