By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
The Jewish Press
Published: December 19th, 2013
Eyad El-Sarraj, Gaza psychiatrist and major BDS advocate, died. But first he sought medical treatment in Israel.
Photo Credit: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Eyad El Sarraj, a prominent psychiatrist in the Gaza Strip, died on Wednesday, Dec. 18. El Sarraj was 70 years old. He died of complications from Leukemia.
Throughout his professional life, Sarraj was a fierce proponent of resistance to the “Israeli Occupation” and vigorously promoted boycotts of Israel. But when his health failed, Sarraj sought medical care in Israel. He died at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he had been receiving treatment for more than a month.
In 1990, Sarraj founded the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, which is headquartered in the Rimal district of Gaza. El Sarraj was the medical director of GCMHP until his death.
“He is considered the father of mental health and the
pioneer of mental health in Palestine. Our commitment to Dr. Sarraj is to
continue his message and his struggle for respect of human rights,” said Husam
El-Nounou, the administrative chief at GCMHP. Arab media and others hailed
Sarraj as a human rights defender and a promoter of peace between Israel and “Palestine.”
Actually, Sarraj was a major promoter, supporter, advocate and cheerleader for
the form of economic warfare against Israel known as the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions movement.
He and members of his staff were promoters of
vindictive bald-faced lies about Israel. According to the highly-respected
oversight group NGO Monitor, Sarraj and his GCMHP used unsubstantiated medical
claims as an avenue to criticize the Israeli government, including allegations
that the Jewish state engages in “systematic state organized violence,” “collective
punishment” “massacres,” “war crimes,” and a system of “apartheid” against the
Palestinian people. El Sarraj’s Mental Health Center hosted numerous
anti-Israel tracts on its website. The site itself is a bizarre conglomeration
that NGO Monitor calls a “politicized medical NGO.” In one such tract, “War
Crimes and Tragedy: The Occupation of Palestine,” the author claims: “We can no
longer remain silent nor turn our backs and pretend ignorance to a gruesome
occupation of stolen land, the cruelest collective punishment in the open-air
sewer prison where Palestinians once lived in peace.
The situation has
deteriorated as we observe Jewish settlers who spew their hate with such
revulsion and racism on Palestinian families, it makes my stomach turn.” One of
Sarraj’s GCMHP doctors provided expert testimony to the infamous Goldstone
panel in 2009. Dr. Ahmed Abu-Tawahini offered what he called “professional
insight” into the reason why Israeli soldiers “shoot children in front of their
parents.”
The doctor claimed such an action – as if it ever happened – can only
be explained by “the psychological instability” and desire of the Israeli
soldier to “restore his lost image.” El Sarraj was on the board of advisers of
the “Free Gaza Movement.” Those are the people across the globe who organize
flotillas to try and break the legal Israeli blockade of Gaza. Following the
2010 Mavi Marmara incident in which a boat of internationals attempted to
pierce the blockade and during which Israeli soldiers were attacked with lead
pipes and other weapons, Sarraj signed a public statement which demonized the
Israeli soldiers and lionized the thugs aboard the boat.
We insist on severance
of diplomatic ties with Israel, trials for war crimes and the International
protection of the civilians of Gaza. We call on you to join the growing
international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign of a country proving
again to be so violent and yet so unchallenged. And yet, just three years
later, when Sarraj was dying from leukemia, he violated the principles he had
espoused so strongly when he was strong and healthy. He went to seek the best
medical care he could find. He went to Israel.
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/gaza-bds-advocate-dead-sought-israeli-medical-care-at-the-end/2013/12/19/
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/gaza-bds-advocate-dead-sought-israeli-medical-care-at-the-end/2013/12/19/
No comments:
Post a Comment