One of the most unconscionable aspects of the so-called Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza is the censorship that Israel places on news coverage of the unfolding events there. According to the BBC, since October 7, 2023, nearly 70% of the Palestinians slaughtered by Israeli forces have been women and children. The Israelis have also targeted and assassinated a record number of journalists. They have mowed down Gazans seeking food at so-called aid hubs. They have bombed poets and artists. Censorship has kept most of the grisly details under wraps.
A newly un-suppressed BBC film, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, shows how Israeli forces are also targeting and erasing hospitals, doctors and medical professionals. The film opens with a scene of Palestinian ambulances, clearly marked with lights flashing, rushing to a hospital. "Israeli soldiers opened fire and start to kill the rescue workers," a voice -over narrator tells us. "They said the convoy was suspicious because its lights were off. But when 15 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave, this video from the phone of one of the dead medics exposed the Israeli version of events as untrue."
What's more, the voice-over narrator tells us, "Every one of Gaza's 36 main hospitals has been attacked, forced to evacuate, or destroyed."
The film details how hundreds of health workers have been detained, tortured, or forcibly disappeared -- many without charge. "We're not talking about ten, twenty, thirty healthcare workers. We're talking about hundreds of detainees," says Amnesty International's Badr Hassan. He continues, "Like hospitals, medics are given extensive protections under international law... The Israeli army said Doctor Al Bursch was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. They provided no evidence of this."
Doctors have been dragged off to black sites to be tortured, we're told. And more: Allegations include beatings, stress positions, forced barbed-wire gripping, and even rape. A former military base, State Ayman, is one such site. "It's now become notorious after reports of torture, rape, and abuse... Some Israeli politicians debated whether the rape of prisoners should be allowed."
Israeli medics and soldiers interviewed describe a culture of impunity and dehumanization toward Palestinians. One anonymous Israeli soldier interviewed says, "You can do almost whatever you want when it comes to Gazans. Honestly, I think that's how Israeli society has been dehumanizing Palestinians for years. It didn't start on October 7th."
He adds, "Even those patients are defined and called just by a five-digit number... You don't look at them in the eyes." This recalls the death camp horror described in my childhood read of Elie Wiesel's Night.
The killings alluded to above -- the women and children, the journalists, the starving, the poets, and doctors -- are all instances of ethnic cleansing and examples of war crimes. Censorship is intended to control the narrative of what is understood to be happening in Gaza. Investigative journalist Chris Hedges writes in his new book, A Genocide Foretold, "All governments lie, as I.F. Stone pointed out, including Israel and Hamas. But Israel engages in the kinds of jaw-dropping lies that characterize despotic and totalitarian regimes. It does not deform the truth; it inverts it. It routinely paints a picture for the outside world that is diametrically opposed to reality."
The film's final scenes show surviving medics either in prison or returning to broken facilities. The body of Doctor Adnan Al Bursch, murdered in detention, has not been returned to his family. Others like Doctor Abu Safiya and Doctor Obaid remain held without charge.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is an excellent companion film to the recently released Gaza; Journalists Under Fire. It is highly recommended and available on YouTube.
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