Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict. Article 18 of the Geneva Convention stipulates that a building designated as a civilian hospital cannot be the target of attack.
Imagine just for a moment living in a world were if you go to hospital with an injury and someone you think fits a profile a doctor walk up to you and blow your brains out, oh and anyone else in the room with you at the time. No judge, jury, just an executioner.
This is the basis of extrajudicial killing.
This is not a John le Carré or Tom Clancy work of fiction, it is the latest work of Israeli death squads. And it was not a doctor, thankfully, but a team of assassins disguised as a medical team who entered a hospital room and murdered three people. This is a violation of the rules of war. There was no court to judge the evidence just an assassin’s bullet.
This is not a new side to the conflict between Palestine and Israel. There is a long history of extrajudicial killing and assassinations that have blotted Israel’s veneer of civilised society. Probably the most famous were the peacemaker Count Folke Bernadotte. He was acclaimed as saving thousands of POWs from prison camps in WW2, including Australians. After the war he assisted in rescuing people, including Jews, from Nazi concentration camps. Yet in trying to settle conflict between the infant state of Israel and Arabs in 1948 he was murdered by Zionists with links to the Israeli government. In fact, Yitzhak Shamir reputedly played a role in planning the assassination; was never tried and later was elected as Prime Minister of Israel.
Many less notables have been murdered by Israeli death squads around the world. In Lillehammer, Norway, Ahmed Bouchikhi who had a passing resemblance (of Arab descent) to a Palestinian in being who was involved Black September, was murdered in front of his pregnant wife. Racial profiling gone wrong.
Amnesty International has documented an enormous number of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians by Israeli death squads. This article is from 2016 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/09/israel-opt-pattern-of-unlawful-killings-reveals-shocking-disregard-for-human-life/ and 2022
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/israel-opt-increase-in-unlawful-killings-and-other-crimes-highlights-urgent-need-to-end-israels-apartheid-against-palestinians/
Human Rights International is another source of information of extrajudicial killings.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/02/israel/palestine-some-officials-backing-shoot-kill
Its not difficult to find other stories doing a simple Google Search of reputable sources.
This is the life you live in an institutionalised racial segregation system. Where a man with an automatic weapon can enter a mosque and killing 29 and injuring about 150 Palestinians praying and be held up as a hero by segments of the Israeli society, including some members of Netanyahu’s government.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-ben-gvir-baruch-goldstein-meir-kahane-memorial-martyrs-
Imagine an Australia were Brenton Tarrant is celebrated?
Similar weapons are being handed out to settlers and can be freely seen on images of the streets Israel.
Now, back to the latest extrajudicial killing. In this a man who was alleged to have tied to Hamas, is murdered in a hospital bed whilst receiving treatment for his injuries. Two others were with him at the time.
Imagine being part of the medical team that had cared for him?
The Israeli death squad were dressed in scrubs just like his health care team. Now how do you feel?
Imaging being a patient who now sees a nurse in scrubs providing care thinking is this person going to shoot me, what’s in that syringe….?
Imagine going to work in a Gaza hospital not knowing if a 2000 pound bomb is going to end your day?
Prior to the Israeli attack on Gaza, violence was a common problem in Palestinian hospitals as documented in this 2012 cross sectional study. The majority of respondents (80.4%) reported exposure to violence in the previous 12 months; 20.8% physical and 59.6% non-physical. The assailants were mostly the patients’ relatives or visitors, followed by the patients themselves, and co-workers. Since October, I am sure any sense of being able to control the violence in your workplace has been lost.
Thankfully in Australia, we don’t need entertain such extreme thoughts of “will I live or die by being at work”, but across the world violence against hospitals, doctors, nurses and the people that come for healing these thoughts maybe real. How is their mental health.
What side of history will you be on and what are you prepared to ignore?
Mark Raines 