Abstract
Open Communication and Discussion Facilitate Reconciliation: The Maimonides Approach to Publication of Manduca's Letter in The Lancet.
Highlights
In August of 2014, Manduca P et al published “An open letter for the people in Gaza” in The Lancet
Two of the authors of the letters were known anti-Semites, and held connections with David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard in Louisiana and advocate of Nazism. Both these authors expressed sympathy and support for Duke’s rabidly anti-Jewish positions. In their letter they accused Israel’s medical community of complicity in committing terrible atrocities and even implied that chemical warfare was being used by Israel
At the heart of the issue was the question, “How could a scientific medical journal become involved with political issues?” In addition, if such a letter or article was to be publicized, why wasn’t the information scrutinized, and why wasn’t the perspective of those accused of atrocities sought? The general response in the academic world, among Jewish colleagues, was an angry call to boycott The Lancet, which already had a long anti-Israeli reputation
Summary
In August of 2014, Manduca P et al published “An open letter for the people in Gaza” in The Lancet. Shraga Blazer, M.D.* Editor-in-Chief, Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal and Director of the Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
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