This is not a battle between terrorism and democracy. Hamas is not the enemy Israel is fighting. Israel is waging a war against the Palestinian people’s will to resist. [Israel is waging a war against] the unbending [Palestinian] determination not to submit to the [Israeli] occupation. It is the Palestinian people’s dignity and humanity that will not accept that they are treated [by Israel] as third, fourth, fifth-ranking people.

These are the words of Norwegian surgeon Dr Mads Gilbert.

 

While working treating the injured and wounded in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital in the Palestinian Gaza Strip Dr Gilbert wrote a gut-wrenching open letter on his experiences in Gaza. It was published in The Independant. (Read my post on it here, and the letter in the newspaper here.)

Even better –  attend one of Dr Gilbert’s talks in South Africa:

 

TUESDAY, 26 AUGUST AT 19H00
TYPE: Public Event
CITY: Johannesburg
GUESTS: Dr Mads Gilbert (Norway); Dr Aaron Motsoaledi (South African Minister of Health, TBC); COSATU President, Sidumo Dlamini; Dr Shereen Usdin (StopTheJNF and BDS South Africa) and others
VENUE: Protea Auditorium, STH Building, Bunting Road Campus (off Annet Road), University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg
HOSTED BY: Channel Islam International, BDS South Africa, Cosatu, UJ PSF, SA Medical Association
COST: Free
CONTACT: 0740543826

———-

WEDNESDAY, 27 AUGUST AT 12H00
TYPE: Public event
CITY: Durban
GUESTS: Dr Mads Gilbert (Norway)
VENUE: Cane Growers Hall, ML Sultan Campus, Durban University of Technology
HOSTED BY: Channel Islam International, BDS South Africa, SA Students Congress (SASCO DUT) and DUT Student Representative Council
COST: Free
CONTACT: 0740543826

———-

WEDNESDAY, 27 AUGUST AT 18H00
TYPE: Fundraising Dinner
CITY: Durban
VENUE: NMJ Islamic Centre, Durban
HOSTS: Channel Islam International, BDS South Africa, KZN Palestinian Solidarity Front, Islamic Medical Association (IMA)
COST: R300
MORE INFO AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS: 0312081898 or 0312082529

———-

THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST AT 11H00
TYPE: Public Event
CITY: Cape Town
VENUE: 1H, Public Health Building, University of the Western Cape
HOSTS: Channel Islam International, BDS South Africa, UWC Palestine Solidarity Association
COST: Free

———-

THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST AT 19H00
TYPE: Public Event
CITY: Cape Town
VENUE: Molly Blackburn Auditorium, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
HOSTS: Channel Islam International, BDS South Africa, UCT PSF
COST: Free
CONTACT: 0820619674

———-

FRIDAY, 29 AUGUST 10H00
TYPE: Seminar
CITY: Pretoria
TIME: 12h00
VENUE: HW Snynam Building University of Pretoria Medical Campus , Gezina
HOSTS: Department of Family Medicine
CONTACT: 0726370386

———-

FRIDAY, 29 AUGUST AT 19H00
TYPE: Main Fundraising Dinner for Gaza Ambulance Drive
CITY: Johannesburg
VENUE: LifeStyle Centre, Fordsburg, Johannesburg.
HOSTS: Channel Islam International and Purple Bandage
COST: R250
TICKETS: Click here for more information on this event.

———-

SATURDAY, 30 AUGUST
Dr Mads Gilbert to participate in national day of action against Woolworths as part of #BoycottWoolworths campaign

 

In commenting on the 2014 cycle of Israeli attacks on Gaza, Dr Gilbert added:

In 1938, the Nazis called the Jews ‘Untermenschen’, subhuman. Today, Palestinians are treated as ‘Untermensch’, as subhumans who can be bombed, killed, slaughtered by their thousands…however, solidarity is a powerful weapon…join the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel campaign…Israel is more isolated than ever and they deserve to be.

Dr Mads Gilbert is a specialist in anesthesiology, the head of the emergency medicine department at the University Hospital of North Norway and has been adjunct professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø since 1995. Gilbert is in South Africa on a Channel Islam International and BDS South Africa speaking tour between Tuesday the 26th of August and Saturday the 30th of August.