Algeria’s 1962 independence was marked by one million deaths from French colonial brutality, a grim reminder of the costs of liberation. Frantz Fanon, a Martinican psychiatrist aligned with the Algerian National Liberation Front, brought attention to the role of physicians in facilitating genocide.

In “Medicine and Colonialism,” Fanon critiques that physicians, the healers of humanity, are in reality “an integral part of colonization, of domination, of exploitation.” This was illustrated in November when 100 Israeli physicians endorsed bombing Gaza’s hospitals as “targets for annihilation.”

Since the debate over the bombing of a single hospital in October, all hospitals in Gaza have been reduced to footnotes. Euro-Med has documented over 140 mass graves, with another unearthed at Nasser Hospital at the same time congress approved $26.46 billion in additional aid to Israel and banned TikTok. The White House, parroting Israel, accuses student protestors of ‘blatant anti-semitism’ and violence, comparing them to terrorists. 

Resolution 6090, which passed the House, effectively makes criticism of Israel illegal and, according to the ACLU, ‘threatens to censor speech protected by the 1st Amendment.’ The bill “doesn’t protect Jews – it protects Israel,” according to Barry Trachtenberg, Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest.

Renowned Israeli Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov objects that “there’s nothing threatening about opposing occupation or oppression.” A recent report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges reveals “the overwhelming majority–99%–have remained peaceful.”

The vilification of student protestors by politicians and university administrators, coupled with the deployment of rooftop snipers, riot police, the use of brutal force and mass arrests of students and faculty, risks radicalizing an entire generation. In America it is more likely to face incarceration for peacefully protesting genocide than for perpetrating it. 

Congressman Rick Allen’s question, “Do you want Columbia University cursed by God of the Bible?“, mirrors Speaker Mike Johnson’s assertion that “it’s a biblical admonition to stand with Israel.” They highlight the fusion of religious and political agendas to defend Israeli atrocities.

Writing from Birmingham Jail after participating in non-violent protests, Rev. King described the white moderate “who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” Speaking on this, President Biden declared that “order must prevail,” even as Israel has obliterated every single university in Gaza. 

The phenomenon of American liberal embrace of Zionism, in alignment with the extreme right, was aptly described by Jewish socialist Mike Marqusee as “failure to imagine the people on the receiving end of your dreams. It’s a failure rooted in Western and white supremacy.”

The young on our campuses of all persuasions, Jewish and Muslim, bravely proclaim that the value of Palestinian children’s lives is equal to Israeli, Ukrainian, or American children. The moment necessitates critical reflection of American institutional practices. 

The double standards of U.S. healthcare institutions echoes the ugly history of segregation and discrimination in American healthcare. Their deafening silence, with few exceptions like The San Francisco Marin Medical Society, which called for a ceasefire, betray the moral foundation of medicine. The Bay Area deserves leadership that upholds basic medical ethics. 

Fanon’s ethical stance, exemplified by his resignation from the French medical system in protest, underscores the betrayal of our principles when healthcare is reduced to a sterile corporate endeavor. The drive to cease the American-Israeli genocide cannot rely on the US government; it necessitates the collective action of civil society. Healthcare administrators and executives who lack the basic humanity to call for a ceasefire should step down from their leadership roles. Physician, heal thyself.

In the face of injustice, Elie Wiesel said, we must never fail to protest. The call for a ‘Free Palestine’ advocates for liberation from Israeli colonial occupation and genocide, and also from the moral degradation in oppression. As Césaire observed, the colonizer suffers a greater debasement than the colonized. In their silent consent and loud indifference, those complicit in genocide first dehumanize themselves.

Published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Posted here with hyperlink citations.

Aly Mohamed, MD is affiliated with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Sutter Health.