Jewish health professionals condemn silence over Gaza
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Jewish health professionals condemn their colleagues’ silence on Gaza and urge action against "Israel’s" destruction of the besieged enclave’s health system.
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Patients rest on thin mattresses and improvised beds crowded into a makeshift ward at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on August 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A group of Jewish professionals in the medical and public health community has issued a strongly worded statement, published as an opinion piece by Joshua Hollman and Joseph Bruch in Haaretz, expressing shame over the silence of many of their Jewish American colleagues in the face of the devastation and collapse of Gaza’s health system.
In the article, the signatories denounce what they call complicity through silence as "Israel" continues its assault on Gaza, including this week’s strike on the last remaining hospital in the Strip’s south. “We are ashamed that so many of our Jewish American colleagues remain silent in the face of devastating human loss in Gaza,” they wrote.
Citing figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), the professionals note that nearly 1,400 people have been killed while attempting to access food in recent months. They also highlight the attack on al-Nasser Hospital, which killed 20 Palestinians, including journalists and medical staff. According to the WHO, there have been around 700 attacks on health facilities in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories since October 7, leaving more than 94% of hospitals destroyed or damaged.
Moreover, a referenced study found that life expectancy in Gaza has nearly halved since October 2023. The authors argue that such outcomes are not "collateral damage" but the foreseeable result of a military strategy deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.
The Jewish medical professionals stress that their expertise makes them acutely aware of the catastrophic public health consequences of disease, starvation, overcrowding, and trauma now facing Palestinians. They argue that this knowledge obligates them to denounce "Israel’s" actions.
Nevertheless, they note that many of their Jewish colleagues in the US have chosen silence, citing fears of ostracism from the broader Jewish community or reliance on "false-flag arguments" that the assault on Gaza ensures Jewish safety. “How can anyone claim that starving a population will protect Jews?” the writers argue.
They also emphasize the danger of antisemitism being weaponized to silence legitimate dissent, urging Jews in particular to speak out.
Call to action
The opinion piece underscores the influential role of Jewish health professionals in the US, where many have pioneered medical breakthroughs and led major institutions, arguing that unified opposition to the assault on Gaza from within this community would carry significant weight, particularly as Washington continues to fund much of the destruction.
The authors further criticized medical schools and institutions for suppressing discussion on Gaza, saying that “institutional silence is not neutrality; it is complicity.”
They cite Palestinian health workers who have long raised the alarm, often at great personal and professional cost, and note that only a small number of Jewish organizations, including B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, have openly condemned the campaign against Gaza as genocidal.
'We must do better'
The piece concludes with a call for action:
- Jewish professionals must demand that medical societies advocate for Palestinian health.
- They must reject institutional censorship surrounding Gaza.
- They must stand in solidarity with Palestinian health workers.
"We must be vocal. We must do better," the authors write, calling silence in the face of Gaza’s destruction a betrayal of both Jewish values and medical ethics.
It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Thursday that hospitals received the bodies of 71 martyrs, including four retrieved from under the rubble, and 399 injuries over 24 hours. Many victims remain trapped beneath debris and along roads, unreachable due to continued bombardment.
Since October 7, 2023, as of August 28, 2025, the death toll of the Israeli genocide in Gaza has surged to 62,966 Palestinians, in addition to 159,266 injuries. Since March 18, 2025, the toll has risen to 9,440 Palestinians killed and 47,225 wounded.
