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The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has been accused by a number one physician of “taking part in together with Hamas” in its protection of the Gaza conflict.
Inside three weeks of the Oct 7 attack by Hamas which sparked the battle, the BMJ-owned World Well being journal printed an article accusing Israel of “indiscriminately killing” Palestinians.
The piece, printed on Oct 27, additionally stated Israeli forces had been intentionally targeting a hospital in Gaza to “improve morbidity and mortality”.
Philip Greenland, a US professor of drugs, wrote a response disputing claims within the article, however World Well being didn’t publish the rebuttal for 3 months.
The journal additionally initially demanded Prof Greenland pay a $2,000 (£1,500) payment, though the editors backtracked on this after claiming that the preliminary article had not been invited.
‘Editorial malpractice’
World Well being’s editor subsequently advised Prof Greenland that the choice to not cost the authors of the unique article was an error, and subsequently he was not requested to pay a payment to have his response printed.
However Prof Greenland, a senior editor on the Journal of American Medication Affiliation, accused the journal of “editorial malpractice” as a result of his article was by then three months old-fashioned.
The delay, he stated, “nearly made our piece irrelevant as a result of so many different issues occurred after then”.
As well as, his response was shared earlier than publication on Feb 1 with the authors of the unique anti-Israel article, who in the identical situation wrote one other piece disputing a number of facets of his argument.
Prof Greenland, a specialist in preventive medication at Northwestern College, Illinois, accused the editor of “placing [his] hand on the size and letting them have one other crack at it”.
“Folks have to know that medical journals are taking part in together with Hamas,” he stated.
The unique article, headlined “Violence in Palestine calls for fast decision of its settler colonial root causes”, makes no point out of the Oct 7 atrocities and as an alternative argues: “It’s inconceivable to divorce the violence of latest days from the lengthy historical past of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
The follow-up response to Prof Greenland’s rebuttal of the article rejects the concept that Israel selected violence in Gaza due to Oct 7, describing the argument as “false”.
‘Eliminatory colonial technique’
It goes on to accuse Israel of pursuing an “eliminatory settler colonial technique” as evidenced by the “necropower” that Israel workouts over Palestinians – which the authors outline as “death-worlds” the place individuals are put ready continually near dying.
Prof Greenland stated the articles had been “nowhere close to applicable” for the publication.
“This isn’t a social sciences journal,” he stated. “They’re wading into territory that medical journals shouldn’t be in.”
David Katz, an emeritus professor of immunopathology at College Faculty London and editor of the Worldwide Journal of Experimental Pathology, stated: “The authors of the 2 articles don’t appear in a position to acknowledge the context: Oct 7 occurred.
“For a lot of recognized Jews, there’s a sense of disquiet and betrayal. Jewish sufferers and households question: can they belief the physician they seek the advice of?
“The least we are able to count on, absolutely, is that journals, publishers, and different media don’t betray their very own requirements and duties to fight pernicious anti-Semitic prejudice in any kind.”
Seye Abimbola, the editor-in-chief of BMJ World Well being stated: “We printed Professor Greenland’s criticism on Feb 1, alongside the authors’ reply, which is fully commonplace apply, particularly on a contentious situation.
“Greenland’s criticism was solely one in all many responses, each supportive and demanding, that shaped the idea of the authors’ reply. Each articles went via the identical editorial due diligence. One was not delayed for the opposite, and open entry charges processes had been utilized for each articles as commonplace.
“We don’t settle for the baseless allegation that we’re ‘taking part in together with Hamas’. As a world well being journal, BMJ World Well being is within the drivers of well being and wellbeing in deprived and oppressed communities.”
