The art of making statements and publishing manifestos about Gaza (and Palestine) without citing Israel (the cause), Zionism, or "Western" colonialism (the causes of the cause)

Al Shifa hospital Gaza

Juan Gérvas, retired rural general practitioner, Equipo CESCA, Madrid, Spain. Former professor of public health, Johns Hopkins University, United States, and Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. jjgervas@gmail.com www.equipocesca.org @JuanGrvas

Mercedes Pérez-Fernández, specialist in internal medicine, retired general practitioner, Equipo CESCA, Madrid, Spain. mpf1945@gmail.com

 

Who is destroying Gaza?

You begin to read a statement or a manifesto from an organization/institution about Gaza (and Palestine) and you are pained by the succession of data and descriptions of indescribable, and in many cases irreparable, suffering.

It is the suffering that comes with genocide and apartheid.

Death, destruction, and desolation.

It is a suffering that technically, when it comes to people, is called "unnecessarily premature and humanly avoidable mortality and morbidity." That is, it is unnecessary, premature, and avoidable.

It is not that fire falls as a "punishment from heaven," it is not a "natural disaster" from a magnitude 9 earthquake. No, no. It is directly and humanly avoidable.

Therefore, the question immediately arises: "Who is causing this unnecessarily premature and humanly avoidable mortality and morbidity?" Read and reread the specific text, and it seems that the Palestinian population is suffering beyond words, and that the destruction is total, but it is unknown who is causing this horror.

Is it the Palestinian people who are bombing themselves, shooting at each other, besieging themselves?

Is it an unknown cause, a mystery to be solved, something mysterious that threatens humanity?

 

Israel, Zionism, and Colonialism

It is truly something that threatens humanity, but it is no mystery.

The causes of the cause are Israel's Zionism and "Western" colonialism.

And the cause is Israel.

But in most declarations and manifestos about Gaza (and Palestine), neither Zionism, nor Israel, nor colonialism are mentioned.

The causes of the cause (Zionism and "Western" colonialism) and the cause (Israel) are deliberately hidden.

It seems as if the organizations and institutions that draft such declarations and manifestos are afraid to name Zionism and Western colonialism (the causes of the cause) and Israel (the cause).

 

WONCA statement on “Protecting Health Workers and Patients in All Conflict Zones, Including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan”^[1]

WONCA stands for the World Organization of Family Doctors.
WONCA was founded in 1972 and currently has 120 organizations in 99 countries. In total, they represent more than 500,000 family physicians.

Its statement is clear: “WONCA urges governments, international organizations, and humanitarian agencies to act without delay. All parties must ensure safe corridors for the delivery of food, water, and medical care. Accountability must follow for those who violate humanitarian law. The survival and dignity of millions depend on urgent global action”.

But, in the case of Gaza, no mention of Israel (the cause) or Zionism or "Western" colonialism (the causes of the cause).

 

Statement by the European public health community on Gaza^[2]

This statement in clear. We know, at least, the cause (Israel):

“As European and international public health organisations, we, the undersigned, raise our collective voice in response to the ongoing and systematic devastation of Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli authorities, with devastating public health consequences for the Palestinian people, including killing, starvation, and forced displacement. Rooted in public health science, humanitarian ethics, and our shared commitment to health as a human right, we express our grave concern over the scale and intensity of the destruction being wrought by the Israeli Defense Forces, creating a virtually complete collapse of the health and social systems in Gaza. We urge an immediate end to the hostilities and coordinated international measures to address the consequences of this humanitarian and public health catastrophe”

Signed by The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), European Public Health Association (EUPHA) and World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA).

 

What about the World Medical Association (WMA)?

WMA was founded in 1947, and now have 115 National Medical Associations, representing more tha 10 millions physicians.

From The Lancet^[3]:

“The World Medical Association (WMA) was founded after World War 2 to protect the right to health and ensure physicians are never again complicit in state violence. Its current posture towards Gaza betrays that legacy.

The WMA is widely recognised as the global authority on medical ethics; however, it has not publicly held the Israeli state accountable for gross violations of humanitarian law, including breaches of medical neutrality, which all parties to a conflict must respect.

The WMA has also not publicly denounced the Israeli Medical Association for its failure to speak out against the Israeli state's actions. Since October, 2023, the Israeli state has launched more than 1650 attacks on health facilities in Gaza and the West Bank, killing more than 1580 health-care workers, as of May 25, 2025,2 and damaging or destroying at least 94% of Gazan hospitals.3 Palestinians in Gaza, of whom 1·9 million have been displaced since October, 2023, face what the International Court of Justice is now investigating as genocide.

The scale and systematic nature of the Israeli state's assault on medical neutrality is unprecedented.

Despite this, the Israeli Medical Association has neither condemned the Israeli state's actions nor adequately addressed Israeli physicians' violations of medical ethics, particularly in the treatment of Palestinians held in arbitrary detention, and their commitments as codified in the WMA's Declaration of Geneva.

Moreover, the WMA's statements have been inadequate. It has repeatedly either ignored or failed to condemn the Israeli state's repeated attacks on Gaza's health system, including the targeted destruction of infrastructure,1 the killing and unlawful abduction of Palestinian health-care workers, and the blockade of food, water, medicine, and other essential supplies.

By contrast, the WMA swiftly condemned the Iranian missile strike on Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheva in June, 2025,11 and has taken strong positions on the Ukraine war, including naming Russia's leadership as responsible and establishing a medical aid fund.

This double standard reveals the WMA's selective ethics. Some medical bodies are resisting this silence: in June, 2025, the British Medical Association's members passed a motion at their annual representative meeting condemning the destruction of Gaza's health system.

A letter initiated by HealthWorkers4Palestine to the WMA demanding that it investigates the actions of the Israeli state received thousands of physician signatures, but remains unanswered. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel's leadership has also denounced violations of ethics by Israel's medical establishment”.

 

Summary

Please, when reading a statement or manifesto on Gaza from an organization/institution, be sure to consider whether they comment on their cause (Israel) and the causes of that cause (Zionism and "Western" colonialism).

Also, consider whether, in addition to fine words, they propose concrete actions that engage that organization/institution ("actions speak louder than words"). This is to promote the "straight talk" example of the British Medical Association, which cites Israel directly when considering the Gaza problem and has severed all ties with the Israeli Medical Association due to its lukewarm attitude toward the brutality in Gaza