Latest news with #DoctorsAgainstGenocide
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Dearborn Heights doctor arrested while Marco Rubio spoke to US Senate
Dearborn Heights resident and doctor Dr. Nidal Jboor was arrested for protesting during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's opening statement during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on May 21. Jboor, who lives and practices medicine in Dearborn Heights, held a sign that read, 'Let the children eat. Let the children live.' Jboor was removed from the hearing and arrested for "crowding, obstructing and incommoding," a misdemeanor under D.C. Code 22-1307, as it is illegal to demonstrate in congressional buildings, the U.S. Capitol Police public information office said in an email to the Detroit Free Press on May 27. Jboor was released later that day and was one of seven arrested during the May 21 Senate hearing, police said. A Capitol Police public information officer said the department arrests hundreds of people every year for "illegally demonstrating." Over a year ago, the department created a team to rapidly respond to capitol happenings. "We enforce the law and will not let anyone disrupt the important work of the Congress," a spokesperson for Capitol Police said. "There are plenty of places on Capitol Grounds where people can hold lawful demonstrations." Any U.S. citizen can attend a congressional hearing with a gallery pass obtained through their senator or representative. Gallery passes are available for international visitors at the House and Senate appointment desks. Jboor, cofounder of a group called Doctors Against Genocide, was one of about 40 from the group to attend the hearing, he said. The group didn't come to Washington for the hearing, but happened to find out about it while there as part of their monthly conversations with legislators like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, about the U.S.'s involvement with Israel and Gaza, said Thomas Pedroni, a Wayne State University College of Education professor who organizes with Doctors Against Genocide and was in Washington at the time of Zboor's arrest. Doctors Against Genocide was founded in 2023 and has more than 20,000 medical professionals in the group, Jboor said. It has run multiple campaigns in support of Gaza and Palestine. Its most recent focus is on "bread not bombs," Jboor said. The recent Israel and Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage, according to the Israeli Government. More than 54,000 Palestinians have died in the war since October 2023, according to Gaza's health ministry. Jboor said many Doctors Against Genocide medical professional members have worked on the ground in Gaza and that more want to go but aren't being let in. 'A ceasefire immediately can save more lives than what (doctors) can do in our clinics," Jaboor said. "We are not stepping out of our roles as doctors. … We think pressuring our politicians to stop this is the most urgent intervention to save as many lives as possible. No amount of doctors can keep up with the pace of the mass slaughter.' On May 12, the World Health Organization reported that the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza faced prolonged food shortages. On May 20, United Nations humanitarian spokesperson Jens Jareke told the BBC that an estimated 14,000 babies were suffering from 'severe acute malnutrition in Gaza.' More: Michigan AG Dana Nessel drops all charges against U-M pro-Palestinian protesters Israel blockaded food, water, shelter and medication from Gaza for nearly three months while thousands of aid trucks sat at the border waiting to enter, according to AP reporting. On May 22, the 11-week blockade ended. U.N. humanitarian officials have criticized the rollout of the aid as a crowd at the distribution place was fired on with warning shots, killing at least one and injuring 48 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 'The food is there,' Jboor said. 'We're not asking to pay for anything, all we're asking is to let the food in. … Millions starved while food is on the border is criminal and inhumane. No one should accept this.' At least 20 living hostages are still being held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Pedroni is not a medical doctor, but he began working with Zboor after meeting him at a "Voices of Palestine" event he hosted at Wayne State University in 2024. Pedroni said he joined Zboor's group as an outlet for his activism and thinks the group does a good job of conceptualizing what's happening in Gaza from a career professional standpoint. "The method has been to connect to our colleagues in Gaza," Pedroni said. "We are just like them. They are our colleagues." Professionals in all fields in Gaza are facing famine and bombing, making it hard to do their jobs, Pedroni said. "The Boston Marathon bombing was a strain on the health services across Boston, and they had all these trauma hospitals ready to receive people. It was still a tragedy and horror. There are no hospitals in Gaza, no drugs you need to support surgery and the bombing happens day after day." More: How Hamtramck, a small town within Detroit, became America's first Muslim-majority city Doctors Against Genocide hosts virtual meetings monthly and speaks with medical professionals on the ground in Gaza, Pedroni said. The group also hosts events, like vigils held on WSU's campus during the winter 2025 semester. Along with the war has come rises in antisemitism and islamophobia. On May 21, the same day as the Senate protest, two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot at the Capital Jewish Museum. After almost two recent years and decades of conflict between Israel and Palestine, Pedroni said it can be discouraging to keep speaking for peace, especially when people are being deported and higher education institutions are losing funding over the way they respond to protests. "This is the most important issue of our time," Pedroni said. "It's not just about something the U.S. is doing with taxpayer money halfway around the world, but it's coming back to affect American free speech and higher education.' Pedroni joined Doctors Against Genocide because the group gives him an outlet for his activism, he said. He said he supports student protests and that it's important for people to speak up, especially people like him with privilege as a white, male, U.S. citizen with job security, because advocating for peace is not antisemitic. "Of course a professor fighting for saving children also values and respects Jewish students," Pedroni said. Pedroni said he thinks pushback to Palestine activism nationwide before President Donald Trump's second term has helped Trump justify and enforce his orders against DEI. "I feel a lot of the blame is with universities themselves. It's the wrong solution to say 'if we hide and shut up and don't do programing, (the issues will go away),'' Pedroni said. 'It's hoped we will be discouraged, but there's a lot of people that know what's right and we know the correct thing to do and people eventually become fearless." Zboor said though medical professionals have been fired for pro-Palestine activism and some are self-censoring, it's still worth speaking up. "We won't be silent," Zboor said. "All we are asking for is peace. Allowing more wars and committing the mass starvation of children are anti-peace." This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit doctor arrested while protesting in US capitol
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Canadian doctors who served in Gaza call for arms embargo, sanctions on Israel
OTTAWA — Canadian medical professionals who treated wounded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are urging Ottawa to stop all military trade with Israel. The doctors said Wednesday Canada's current restrictions on arms exports to Israel aren't good enough, and they alleged Canadian firms are still making military components being used in Gaza. Israel has insisted for months that its military operations in Gaza are meant to stop the threat posed by Hamas, but it has faced a wave of international condemnation over the high civilian death count and its restrictions on aid, including food and medical supplies. Orthopedic surgeon Deirdre Nunan told a Wednesday news conference on Parliament Hill she saw many patients with ghastly injuries during her five visits to Gaza — including injuries consistent with drone strikes that were incurred during a ceasefire. "As a surgeon, I cannot treat a genocide. As doctors, we cannot stop a famine. So we demand that the Canadian government take meaningful action," the Saskatchewan doctor said. She was joined at the press conference by other medical professionals from the group Doctors Against Genocide, which took part in a protest Wednesday at a major arms-industry trade show called CANSEC. The group said companies represented at the trade show have built components deployed in Gaza and cited one Ottawa company that makes sensors used in fighter jets. That's despite Parliament's vote in March 2024 to stop new arms permits for Israel and the federal Liberals stating that they paused existing permits to make sure Canadian components are not used in Gaza. Canada has not said whether Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and Prime Minister Mark Carney says it's up to international tribunals to decide whether that is the case. NDP MP Heather McPherson, who pushed for the arms export restrictions the Liberals adopted in part, said Carney has not significantly changed the approach to Israel the government took under his predecessor Justin Trudeau. Carney joined his French and British counterparts in threatening "targeted sanctions" against Israel last week, while Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Israel is "using food as a political tool" in Gaza. McPherson and the doctors are calling on Ottawa to ban military exports, sanction Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suspend a bilateral trade agreement with Israel. The Bloc Québécois on Wednesday repeated its call for sanctions on Israeli officials, saying it's the only measure that would get Netanyahu to respect international law. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberals should instead combat antisemitism in Canada and impose sanctions on Iran. "It really is extremely unfair that Mr. Carney is targeting the democratic, Jewish state of Israel when, in fact, Hamas continues to hold hostages," he told reporters Wednesday. The Canadian Press has asked Global Affairs Canada for comment but has not yet received a response. McPherson has drafted a motion, which she plans to table in the Commons with the support of Green Leader Elizabeth May, calling on Canada to formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Liberal MPs who have vocally supported Palestinians said they were interested in reading the motion. Montreal-based emergency and family physician Sarah Lalonde told Wednesday's news conference she saw maimed Palestinian civilians who had no idea why they had been attacked by Israel. She said that since she left Gaza, Israel bombed the hospital where she worked and her colleagues are growing more desperate. "The nurses on the video call looked me in the eye and they said, 'We're starving,'" she said. Toronto physician Rizwan Minhas told the press conference he saw children with extreme burns that will impair them for life. He said that with international journalists barred from entering the territory, doctors are sometimes the only outside eyewitnesses to horrific events. They speak for "the voices underneath the rubble, for the children bombed in their beds, for the doctors killed in their scrubs," he said. Ottawa primary-care physician Yipeng Ge compared Israel's restrictions on food reaching Gazans to those enacted by the Canadian government against Indigenous peoples after Confederation. "We're witnessing in real time, live-streamed, the annihilation and extermination of an entire people," he said. "This is an entirely preventable famine imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel and also its allies, who are withholding life-saving food, water and medical aid to an entire population." Earlier this month, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises known as the IPC said Gaza faces famine if Israel doesn't stop blockading food shipments. Israel insists the IPC is undercounting how much food is reaching Palestinians and claims critics are ignoring concerns about Hamas taking aid meant for civilians. But the United Nations has echoed the IPC's warning and says it's inappropriate for Israel to take over the administration of aid from international non-partisan organizations. Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani claimed Wednesday that "international organizations are on a campaign … against the country facilitating aid into Gaza. And worse — it's a campaign of disinformation serving terrorists." On Thursday, Canadian aid groups will take to Parliament Hill for a separate news conference calling for Ottawa to reject an aid-distribution system put in place by Israel and the U.S. One of the groups, Human Concern International, says 17 Canadian-funded aid trucks are ready to deploy but have not been allowed to enter Gaza. On Tuesday, Palestinians were required to line up in pens monitored by armed contractors, but they rushed a food-distribution site. Israeli troops opened fire, injuring dozens. On Wednesday, hundreds stormed a UN food warehouse in Gaza, and hospital officials said four died in the chaos. The Israeli embassy in Ottawa defended aid distribution in the territory. "Israel continues its consistent efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza — including food, medical supplies, and fuel — while actively working to prevent the theft of this aid by Hamas," the embassy wrote. "Field reports ... indicate that Hamas continues to block civilian access to distribution points, imposes delays, and endangers the safety of both aid workers and civilians." The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, meanwhile, is calling on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to fix the flaws in a program meant to resettle up to 5,000 people fleeing Gaza with family ties to Canada. The group says that just 41 people have managed to leave the Gaza Strip through the program Ottawa launched in January 2024. It says that Palestinians who managed to escape Gaza on their own are languishing in places like Cairo. In January, the department said 645 people had arrived in Canada through this program, including those who found their own way out of the territory. IRCC did not provide more recent data by late afternoon Wednesday. Hamas and affiliated militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people, including civilians and soldiers, and taking 250 people hostage; 58 hostages have died or remain in captivity. Gaza's health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says more than 55,000 people have died during Israel's offensive, including civilians and militants. — With files from Émilie Bergeron This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
CBC
28-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Canadian doctors who served in Gaza call for arms embargo, sanctions against Israel
Canadian medical professionals who treated wounded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are urging Ottawa to stop all military trade with Israel. The doctors said Wednesday that Canada's current restrictions on arms exports to the country aren't good enough, and they alleged Canadian firms are still making military components being used in Gaza. Israel has insisted for months that its military operations in Gaza are meant to stop the threat posed by Hamas, but it has faced a wave of international condemnation over the high civilian death count and its restrictions on aid, including food and medical supplies. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the war and aid groups warn of imminent famine in Gaza. Orthopedic surgeon Deirdre Nunan told a Wednesday news conference on Parliament Hill she saw many patients with ghastly injuries during her five visits to Gaza — including injuries consistent with drone strikes that were incurred during a ceasefire. "As a surgeon, I cannot treat a genocide. As doctors, we cannot stop a famine. So we demand that the Canadian government take meaningful action," the Saskatchewan doctor said. She was joined at the news conference by other medical professionals from the group Doctors Against Genocide, which took part in a protest Wednesday at a major arms-industry trade show called CANSEC. The group said companies represented at the trade show have built components deployed in Gaza and cited one Ottawa company that makes sensors used in fighter jets. That's despite Parliament's vote in March 2024 to stop new arms permits for Israel and the federal Liberals stating that they paused existing permits to make sure Canadian components are not used in Gaza. Canada has not said whether Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and Prime Minister Mark Carney says it's up to international tribunals to decide whether that is the case. NDP MP Heather McPherson, who pushed for the arms export restrictions the Liberals adopted in part, said Carney has not significantly changed the approach to Israel the government took under his predecessor Justin Trudeau. Carney joined his French and British counterparts in threatening "targeted sanctions" against Israel last week, while Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Israel is "using food as a political tool" in Gaza. McPherson and the doctors are calling on Ottawa to ban military exports, sanction Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suspend a bilateral trade agreement with Israel. The Bloc Québécois on Wednesday repeated its call for sanctions on Israeli officials, saying it's the only measure that would get Netanyahu to respect international law. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberals should instead combat antisemitism in Canada and impose sanctions on Iran. "It really is extremely unfair that Mr. Carney is targeting the democratic, Jewish state of Israel when, in fact, Hamas continues to hold hostages," he told reporters Wednesday. The Canadian Press has asked Global Affairs Canada for comment but has not yet received a response. McPherson has drafted a motion, which she plans to table in the Commons with the support of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, calling on Canada to formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Liberal MPs who have vocally supported Palestinians said they were interested in reading the motion. Montreal-based emergency and family physician Sarah Lalonde told Wednesday's news conference she saw maimed Palestinian civilians who had no idea why they had been attacked by Israel. She said that since she left Gaza, Israel bombed the hospital where she worked and her colleagues are growing more desperate. "The nurses on the video call looked me in the eye and they said, 'We're starving,"' she said. WATCH | Saskatoon nurse recounts working in Gaza when Israel broke ceasefire: Saskatoon nurse recounts working in Gaza when Israel broke ceasefire 13 hours ago Duration 3:28 Toronto physician Rizwan Minhas told the news conference he saw children with extreme burns that will impair them for life. He said that with international journalists barred from entering the territory, doctors are sometimes the only outside eyewitnesses to horrific events. They speak for "the voices underneath the rubble, for the children bombed in their beds, for the doctors killed in their scrubs," he said. Ottawa primary-care physician Yipeng Ge compared Israel's restrictions on food reaching Gazans to those enacted by the Canadian government against Indigenous people after Confederation. "We're witnessing in real time, livestreamed, the annihilation and extermination of an entire people," he said. "This is an entirely preventable famine imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel and also its allies, who are withholding life-saving food, water and medical aid to an entire population." WATCH | Palestinian UN ambassador describes deaths of children: Palestinian UN ambassador cries as he describes deaths of children in Gaza 3 hours ago Duration 5:19 Earlier this month, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises known as the IPC said Gaza faces famine if Israel doesn't stop blockading food shipments. Israel insists the IPC is undercounting how much food is reaching Palestinians and claims critics are ignoring concerns about Hamas taking aid meant for civilians. But the United Nations has echoed the IPC's warning and says it's inappropriate for Israel to take over the administration of aid from international non-partisan organizations. Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani claimed Wednesday that "international organizations are on a campaign against the country facilitating aid into Gaza. And worse — it's a campaign of disinformation serving terrorists." On Thursday, Canadian aid groups will take to Parliament Hill for a separate news conference calling for Ottawa to reject an aid-distribution system put in place by Israel and the U.S. One of the groups, Human Concern International, says 17 Canadian-funded aid trucks are ready to deploy but have not been allowed to enter Gaza. Dozens injured at food distribution site On Tuesday, Palestinians were required to line up in pens monitored by armed contractors, but they rushed a food-distribution site. Israeli troops opened fire, injuring dozens. On Wednesday, hundreds stormed a UN food warehouse in Gaza, and hospital officials said four died in the chaos. The Israeli embassy in Ottawa defended aid distribution in the territory. "Israel continues its consistent efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza — including food, medical supplies, and fuel — while actively working to prevent the theft of this aid by Hamas," the embassy wrote. "Field reports … indicate that Hamas continues to block civilian access to distribution points, imposes delays and endangers the safety of both aid workers and civilians." WATCH | Controversial U.S. company distributes aid: Controversial U.S. company distributes aid in Gaza amid sounds of gunshots 1 day ago Duration 1:17 The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, meanwhile, is calling on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to fix the flaws in a program meant to resettle up to 5,000 people fleeing Gaza with family ties to Canada. The group says that just 41 people have managed to leave the Gaza Strip through the program Ottawa launched in January 2024. It says that Palestinians who managed to escape Gaza on their own are languishing in places like Cairo. In January, the department said 645 people had arrived in Canada through this program, including those who found their own way out of the territory. IRCC did not provide more recent data by late afternoon Wednesday. Hamas and affiliated militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people, including civilians and soldiers, and taking 250 people hostage; 58 hostages have died or remain in captivity. Gaza's Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says more than 55,000 people have died during Israel's offensive, including civilians and militants.
