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Wednesday, November 6, 2024

A Silver Lining Around A Seemingly Dark Cloud

"Trump on the Verge of Victory With Swing State Wins"
Historic NYT headline 11/6/24

Millions of Americans are no doubt feeling devastated and demoralized this morning by the outcome of this year's election. Few ever imagined a Trump-dominated Republican party, already with a majority of Supreme Court appointees, now gaining control of the White House and likely both houses of Congress in one fell swoop.

But might Shakespeare's "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good" apply here?

Along with a host of possible bad consequences, here are some potential good outcomes that could result from yesterday's tally:

1. This should mark the end of the fundamental and widespread lie about the American voting process being untrustworthy. The Democratic half of the nation's voters were already convinced that no elections were being stolen, and now skeptical Republicans will no longer be able to claim that the system was rigged against them. 

2. The almost cult-like veneration surrounding the newly elected president is almost sure to fade. The candidate who promised to "fix everything about our country" plus instantly end all wars around the world will find himself unable to deliver. And this time there may be no opposition party to blame when food prices go up for lack of sufficient immigrant farm workers, the national debt soars (as predicted) due to tax policies favoring the already favored, and consumers feel the effect of rising prices as a result of increased tariffs.

3. There is a strong likelihood of a peaceful transfer of power this time, with losing candidates making their customary and timely concession speeches. Had Harris and the Democrats won we could have seen multiple January 6 kinds of insurrections happening all over the country, led by outraged Trump supporters.

4. In the inevitable decline of the American empire (under any future administration) believers who have put their faith in political systems to bring about a Golden Age of America may come to realize that without serious repentance, no nation will be spared God's judgment.

May we all humble ourselves, do justice, love mercy and pray that God's will and God's ways may eventually prevail throughout the world. 



Saturday, November 2, 2024

A New Hymn for All Saints Sunday

I post the following new hymn with the kind permission of Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a gifted Presbyterian pastor in Owego, New York. She has written over 400 beautiful hymns, all set to familiar tunes. 

Here is her introduction to one she wrote for All Saints Day: 
 
"O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us" is a new hymn celebrating faithful Christians in the past and present; it is also a prayer that we will follow Jesus in the world today.  In a time when competing voices in society encourage us to abandon the way of Jesus, we need to remember how he taught us to live.  

O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us
ASH GROVE 6.6.11.6.6.11 D ("Let All Things Now Living")

O God, we give thanks for the saints gone before us —
remembering well how they walked Jesus' Way.
They valued the truth and would rise to defend it.
They knelt to be kind to the poor day by day.
They welcomed in immigrants, honored new neighbors,
put love before greed, and sought peace over strife.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
recall Jesus' teachings and welcome this life.

O God, we give thanks for the saints now among us —
for teachers and helpers and activists, too,
for those in our families and those who work with us
to make the world better, to make the world new.
We thank you for those who seek justice for others,
for those who seek Jesus and live by his grace.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
give thanks for their witness of love in this place.

O God, we give thanks for the Way Jesus shows us;
may we seek to follow his reign from above.
The world often calls us to hatred and violence,
but Christ's Way is welcome and mercy and love.
Like prophets, apostles, and martyrs before us,
like those who bear witness to you every day,
may we in our homes and our churches and nations
be saints who are eager to choose Jesus' Way.

Biblical References: Matthew 5:1-12; Matthew 6:33; John 8:31-32; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; Micah 6:8

Tune: Traditional Welsh melody ("Let All Things Now Living")  (ASH GROVE)
Text: Copyright © 2024 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com/
O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us

Note: You can email her if you want to be on her contact list or if you wish to use any of her hymns in your congregation. Here are some of her latest: 

Sunday, October 27, 2024

A Horrifying Tragedy At Red Onion State Prison

I am posting this tragic account with the permission of Natasha White, Washington, DC-based Director of Community Engagement for IAHR, an organization dedicated to "abolish unnecessarily punitive practices such as solitary confinement and to instead focus on rehabilitation and successful reentry of our citizens" in Maryland, DC and Virginia.
On September 15, 2024, a horrifying incident at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison exposed the unbearable conditions that incarcerated individuals face daily. In a recent radio essay, Kevin Rashid Johnson reported that two men, Ekong Eshiet, and his cellmate Trayvon Brown, set themselves on fire, driven to this tragic act by the intolerable racism, abuse, and inhumane treatment they endured.

Ekong suffered third-degree burns, while Trayvon Brown’s injuries were even more severe. Last we have heard, Ekong is being treated at UVA. He is currently engaging in a hunger strike– reports state that he has refused meals for five days. As of now, we are working to gather more information on the other men involved, and any information the public has will be useful.


The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) has gone too far. I am heartbroken and enraged by this level of desperation. The torture and dehumanization of incarcerated people are not only violations of the law but also crimes against humanity. As someone who has fought for freedom and been directly impacted by this system, it infuriates me that institutions continue to disregard human life with such impunity.


This must stop. We need everyone involved in addressing the crisis at Red Onion State Prison. When is enough enough? How many of our brothers must physically or spiritually suffer before meaningful change occurs?


IAHR and the Virginia Coalition have worked tirelessly year after year, to end solitary confinement—one of the main abuses taking place at the torturous Red Onion—and we will continue to do so with your help. Please contact me to help eliminate the abuses faced by incarcerated individuals; I can be reached via email, call, text, or through our website. Further, you can take part in advocating by contacting your local legislators

(https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov)


To the families, friends, and communities of those suffering within these walls: We see you, we hear you, and we stand with you in this fight for justice.


This was not an isolated act of desperation. Since then, nine more men at Red Onion have reached their breaking point, resorting to similar tragic measures. These are not protests, but cries for help from individuals pushed to the brink by a system designed to rehabilitate but instead breeds despair.


This cannot be ignored. Let this serve as a call to action for every person of conscience to demand accountability, transparency, and an end to the gruesome practices within our

prison systems.


In solidarity,

Natasha White

Director of Community Engagement (IAHR)

Interfaith Action for Human Rights

https://www.interfaithactionhr.org/

email: nwhite@interfaithactionhr.org

phone/text: 318-295-5343


P.O.Box 55802, Washington, DC 20040 318-295-5343

nwhite@interfaithactionhr.org www.interfaithactionhr.org

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Will Voting For A Better Party Save The U.S.?

This is but one example of the multitude of ways
our nation was built on brutalizing, massacring,
enslaving and otherwise exploiting people in order
to gain land, power and dominance.
Much has been said about the 2024 election being a watershed moment in our nation's history. Each person's miniscule-size vote, we're told, is crucial in determining whether the U.S. will survive or will join all past empires in their inevitable demise.

I'm not encouraging citizens to refrain from casting their single vote, a privilege few people throughout history ever dreamed of. Nor am I saying there are no significant differences between political parties that sometimes make one the far better choice.

But we should never expect any form of government resulting from our two-party system to save us. The best either has to offer may only modify, or slightly delay, the inevitable judgment all self-serving empires face.

If you question whether the U.S. is an empire, consider the fact that, with less than 5% of the world's; population, we have over three times the number of military bases abroad than  all other nations combined , according to the  CATO Institute  and multiple other sources.

The ancient Hebrew prophets insisted that a nation's only hope for survival is based on its people demonstrating genuine repentance through "doing justice, showing mercy and walking humbly with God." No amount of gaining dominance, demonstrating military might or claiming to be an exceptional, entitled, and privileged nation will ultimately secure our future.

Sadly, neither of our major political parties come even close to promoting that kind of repentance, including our making the kind of restitution for past wrongs that God's justice demands. For example, neither urge us to take responsibility to repair the harm done to native Americans, the formerly enslaved, victims of our nuclear and other indiscriminate bombings, and/or exploited field and factory workers around the world who make our exceptional wealth possible. This is not to say that the U.S. has not offered much needed food and other aid around the world, but nowhere near equal to the suffering it has created in supporting multiple wars--often in alliance with anti-democratic nations.

So while a vote might sometimes move the needle in a slightly more just direction, it may also lend support to policies that do quite the opposite.

I recently had both a conservative and a progressive friend share their sense of accomplishment in having cast an early ballot. I couldn't help wanting to get them together to ask, "OK, so now that you've canceled each other's vote, now what?"

That "now what" question brings to mind the oft quoted scripture applicable to all people everywhere,
“If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins and will heal their land."

According to Jesus and the prophets, that would mean voting for and promoting values like beating our many military swords into plowshares, welcoming “huddled masses yearning to be free,” caring for the poor and demonstrating love for neighbors and enemies everywhere.

Only that kind of righteousness “exalts a nation" and ensures its survival.

Monday, October 14, 2024

A Prophet's Bold Rebuke Of The Nation Of Israel


Would the message of the Hebrew prophets be any
less disturbing if they addressed nations today?

"You trample on the poor
and force them to give you grain, 
Therefore though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.

Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord Almighty will be with you, 
just as you say he is.

Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph."
- Amos 5;11-12, 14-15 (NIV)

In our house church's Bible study yesterday Dick Dumas led us through the  book of Amos in the Bible, noting how relevant this ancient prophet's warnings are for nations today, including the modern nation of Israel.

Amos's tirades against greed, immorality, judicial corruption, extravagant lifestyles, devotion to false gods, and disregard for the poor could certainly be addressed to our own nation as well, and would likely be met with the same hostility. A native of the neighboring nation of Judah, Amos was seen as an intruder with no business crossing the border into the temple city of Bethel and indicting the people there for their wrongdoing. 

Given the nation's unfaithfulness to the terms of God's covenant, its failure to have "justice roll down like water and righteousness as a mighty stream,"Amos questioned Israel's very right to exist and predicted its certain demise unless it changed its ways. This led to Bethel's high priest, Amaziah, to warn King Jeroboam II that Amos needed to be banished to his own country and to "earn his bread and prophesy there."

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel describes the Hebrew prophets as "some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived:" 

"Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of definitions and demonstrations, he (the prophet) is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and the affairs of the market place. The world is a proud place, full of beauty, but the prophets are scandalized, and rave as if the whole world were a slum... What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? ...Why such inordinate excitement? Why such indignation?"

Heschel then adds, "The things that horrified the prophets are daily occurrences all over the world," and writes:

"When the prophets appeared, they proclaimed that might is not supreme, that the sword is an abomination, that violence is obscene. The sword, they said, shall be destroyed.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4

The prophets, questioning man's infatuation with might, insisted not only on the immorality but also on the futility and absurdity of war.[...] What is the ultimate profit of all the arms, alliances, and victories? Destruction, agony, death."
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets


Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Prisoner's Work Brings $850 At The Relief Sale

"Innkeeper House With Lean-to Manger" is the third creation Brubaker has donated for the annual Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale, hand crafted from assorted material available inside the Dillwyn Correctional Center.

Here's his written description, a copy of which is shown in the photo above:

It's hard to believe another year has passed and the 2024 Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale auction date has arrived. The creation before you is my contribution to the Lord's work this year. I worked on this project over a period of five months and have put in more than 800 hours of my artistic focus in it, averaging at least six hours a day.

I began crafting nearly four years ago about the time the Covid 19 pandemic hit. The changes it brought to my life's normal routines at that time created a need for releasing my restless, unutilized energy.

Along with this purpose, over the last four years I have also discovered that while I am working on my annual project the process is a great way to share my faith and trust in the Lord as the men around me are drawn to the scene that depicts our Savior's birth, as did last year's project portraying Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the events of Easter weekend. The entire process from start to finish seems to be the most effective way, within my circumstances, to share the gospel with the men I live amongst who desperately need a Savior to transform their lives.

I must acknowledge the many sojourners who make it possible for me to have the means to express my faith in the manner that is before you. It is because of them that I have the means to create the Nativity scene that is my tithe for the year, my sacrifice of time to express my gratitude to the Lord for the gift it is to live under his banner of love, protection and provision in my circumstances.

This year's project consists of the items below, purchased or repurposed, sometimes both. The main substrate for all my creations is the thin cardboard backing that comes on the back of a legal sized paper tablet, 50 sheets of college ruled paper or sketch paper. I purchased more paper than I can use personally and gave it to others in need just so I can craft with the cardboard backs. This year I also salvaged a worn out Scrabble game (destined for the trash) with permission from a staff member and used the letter tiles on the surface of the roof. I also utilized some of the cardboard from the box and the board game, as well as the following:

    2 boxes of craft sticks, roughly 1000 in each box
    60 pink beveled erasers split into 15 stone pieces each
    10 pencils scraped, boiled and split in two for trim
    9 4-oz bottles of Elmer's Glue
    2 containers of cornstarch-based shower powder that is in the figurine plaster, along with sand and Elmers Glue
    1 bottle of Kiwi Brown shoe polish, the liquid used to stain the wood
    20 paper tablet cardboard  pads
    1 sheet of 15" x 20" 140 lb. watercolor artist's paper, the bottom footprint of the build that kept it relatively square
    Acrylic paints, mostly flat black on the bottom of the building
    3 2" length fingernail clippers that were broken by use with which to cut the sticks to length
    Grass makes up the hay bales which are tied with some heavy thread from a worn out cloth belt. This same thread was braided to make the larger animal's tails.
    1 bedroll of the donkey's saddlebag is made out of a clean but aged cloth with some paint applied to the bedroll for a colored pattern, perhaps Jewish in style.
    The stall hinges and the bottom pads on the build are faux leather from an eyeglasses protector I no longer needed.

I must thank the staff here at DWCC for the privilege of purchasing materials necessary for this experience. It is my hope that all the creations here today will honor the God we serve, the one who has given each of us unique talents and ways of expressing them.

Sincerely, B Brubaker

Sunday, October 6, 2024

An Open Letter From 99 American Medical Professionals Who Served In Gaza

Just one of hundreds maimed for life.
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
United States of America

The Honorable Kamala D. Harris
Vice President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
United States of America

October 2, 2024

Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,
     We are 99 American physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Combined, we spent 254 weeks volunteering in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics. We worked with various nongovernmental organizations and the World Health Organization in hospitals and clinics throughout the Strip. In addition to our medical and surgical expertise, many of us have a public health background, as well as experience working in humanitarian and conflict zones, including Ukraine during the brutal Russian invasion. Some of us are veterans and reservists. We are a multi-faith and multiethnic group. None of us support the horrors committed on October 7 by Palestinian armed groups and individuals in Israel.
     The Constitution of the World Health Organization states: “The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and States.” It is in this spirit that we write to you in this open letter.
     We are among the only neutral observers who have been permitted to enter the Gaza Strip since October 7. Given our broad expertise and direct experience of working throughout Gaza we are uniquely positioned to comment on several matters of importance to our government as it decides whether to continue supporting Israel’s attack on, and siege of, the Gaza Strip. Specifically, we believe we are well positioned to comment on the massive human toll from Israel’s attack on Gaza, especially the toll it has taken on women and children.
     This letter collects and summarizes our own experiences and direct observations in Gaza. The letter is accompanied by a detailed appendix summarizing the publicly available information from media, humanitarian, and academic sources on key aspects of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Both this letter and the appendix are available electronically at GazaHealthcareLetters.org. This website also houses letters from Canadian and British healthcare workers to their respective governments, making many similar observations to those herein.
     This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population.
Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel. A ceasefire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law. We also believe it is the right thing to do.

I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon

     With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child. While working in Gaza we saw widespread malnutrition in our patients and our Palestinian healthcare colleagues. Every one of us lost weight rapidly in Gaza despite having privileged access to food and having taken our own supplementary nutrient-dense food with us. We have photographic evidence of life-threatening malnutrition in our patients, especially children, that we are eager to share with you.
     Virtually every child under the age of five whom we encountered, both inside and outside of the hospital, had both a cough and watery diarrhea. We found cases of jaundice (indicating hepatitis A infection under such conditions) in nearly every room of the hospitals in which we served, and in many of our healthcare colleagues in Gaza. An astonishingly high percentage of our surgical incisions became infected from the combination of malnutrition, impossible operating conditions, lack of basic sanitation supplies such as soap, and lack of surgical supplies and medications, including antibiotics.
     Malnutrition led to widespread spontaneous abortions, underweight newborns, and an inability of new mothers to breastfeed. This left their newborns at high risk of death given the lack of access to potable water anywhere in Gaza. Many of those infants died. In Gaza we watched malnourished mothers feed their underweight newborns infant formula made with poisonous water. We can never forget that the world abandoned these innocent women and babies.

Every day I saw babies die. They had been born healthy. Their mothers were so malnourished that they could not breastfeed, and we lacked formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved.
Asma Taha, pediatric nurse practitioner

We urge you to realize that epidemics are raging in Gaza. Israel’s continued, repeated displacement of the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, half of whom are children, to areas without running water or even toilets available is absolutely shocking. It was and remains guaranteed to result in widespread death from viral and bacterial diarrheal diseases and pneumonias, particularly in children under the age of five. Indeed, even the dreaded polio virus has reemerged in Gaza due to a combination of systematic destruction of the sanitation infrastructure, widespread malnutrition weakening immune systems, and young children having missed routine vaccinations for nearly an entire year. We worry that unknown thousands have already died from the lethal combination of malnutrition and disease, and that tens of thousands more will die in the coming months, especially with the onset of the winter rains in Gaza. Most of them will be young children.

Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.
Dr. Mark Perlmutter, orthopedic and hand surgeon

     Children are universally considered innocents in armed conflict. However, every single signatory to this letter saw children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us who worked in an emergency, intensive care, or surgical setting treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis. It is impossible that such widespread shooting of young children throughout Gaza, sustained over the course of an entire year is accidental or unknown to the highest Israeli civilian and military authorities.
     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.

I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally.
Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, obstetrician and gynecologist

     The pregnant and breastfeeding women we treated were particularly malnourished. Those of us who worked with pregnant women regularly saw stillbirths and maternal deaths that were easily preventable in any developing country’s healthcare system. The rate of infection in C-section incisions was astonishing. Women underwent vaginal deliveries and even C-sections without anesthesia and were given nothing but Tylenol afterwards because no other pain medications were available.
     We all observed emergency departments overwhelmed by patients seeking treatment for chronic medical conditions such as renal failure, hypertension, and diabetes. Aside from trauma patients, most ICU beds were occupied by patients with type 1 diabetes who no longer had access to insulin. The lack of medication availability, the widespread loss of electricity and refrigeration, and inconsistent access to food made managing this disease impossible. Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza’s healthcare resources and has killed nearly one thousand Palestinian healthcare workers, more than one out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. At the same time healthcare needs have increased massively from the lethal combination of military violence, malnutrition, disease, and displacement.
     The hospitals where we worked were starved of basic supplies from, surgical material to soap. They were regularly cut off from electricity and Internet access, denied clean water, and operated at four to seven times their bed capacity. Every hospital was overwhelmed beyond the breaking point by displaced persons seeking safety, by the constant stream of sick and malnourished patients seeking care, and by the huge influx of seriously wounded patients who typically arrived in mass casualty events.
     These observations and the publicly available material detailed in the appendix lead us to believe that the death toll from this conflict is many times higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health. We also believe this is probative evidence of widespread violations of American laws governing the use of American weapons abroad, and of International Humanitarian Law. We cannot forget scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that our government is a direct participant in.
     As we met our healthcare colleagues in Gaza it was clear that they were malnourished, and both physically and mentally devastated. We quickly learned that our Palestinian healthcare colleagues were among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world. Like virtually all people in Gaza they had lost family members and their homes. Most lived in and around their hospitals with their surviving family in unimaginable conditions. Although they continued working a grueling schedule, they had not been paid since October 7. All were acutely aware that their work as healthcare providers had marked them as targets for Israel. This makes a mockery of the protected status hospitals and healthcare providers are granted under the oldest and most widely accepted provisions of International Humanitarian Law.
     We met healthcare personnel in Gaza who worked at hospitals that had been raided and destroyed by Israel. Many of these colleagues of ours were taken by Israel during the attacks. They all told us a slightly different version of the same story: in captivity they were barely fed, continuously physically and psychologically abused, and finally dumped naked on the side of a road. Many told us they were subjected to mock executions and other forms of mistreatment and torture. Far too many of our healthcare colleagues told us they were simply waiting to die.
     The 99 signatories to this letter spent a combined 254 weeks inside Gaza’s largest hospitals and clinics. We wish to be absolutely clear: not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other healthcare facilities.
     We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder.
     President Biden and Vice President Harris, any solution to this problem must begin with an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We appreciate that you are working on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but you have overlooked an obvious fact: the United States can impose a ceasefire on the warring parties by simply stopping arms shipments to Israel, and announcing that we will participate in an international arms embargo on both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We stress what many others have repeatedly told you over the past year: American law is perfectly clear on this matter, continuing to arm Israel is illegal.
     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you to immediately withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the State of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent ceasefire is established in Gaza, including the release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and until a permanent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is negotiated between the two parties. Vice President Harris, as the likely next president of the United States, we urge you to publicly announce your support for such a policy, and to state publicly that you are duty-bound to uphold the laws of the United States even when doing so is politically inconvenient.
     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are 99 American physicians and nurses who have witnessed crimes beyond comprehension. Crimes that we cannot believe you wish to continue supporting. Please meet with us to discuss what we saw, and why we feel American policy in the Middle East must change immediately.

In the meantime, we reiterate what we wrote in our letter of July 25, 2024:

1. The Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt must be immediately reopened, and must allow unfettered aid delivery by recognized international humanitarian organizations. Security screening of aid deliveries must be conducted by an independent international inspection regime instead of by Israeli forces. These screenings must be based on a clear, unambiguous, and published list of forbidden items, and with a clear independent international mechanism for challenging forbidden items, as verified by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory.

2. A bare minimum water allocation of 15L of potable water per person per day, the Sphere Handbook minimum in a humanitarian emergency, must be allocated to the population of Gaza, as verified by UN Water.

3. Full and unrestricted access of medical and surgical professionals and medical and surgical equipment to the Gaza Strip must be resumed. This must include items taken in healthcare professionals’ personal luggage to safeguard their proper storage, sterility, and timely delivery, as verified by the World Health Organization. Incredibly, Israel continues to block healthcare workers of Palestinian descent from working in Gaza, even American citizens. This makes a mockery of the American ideal that “all men are created equal” and degrades both our national ideals and our profession. Our work is lifesaving. Our Palestinian healthcare colleagues in Gaza are desperate for relief and protection, and they deserve both.

     We are not politicians. We do not claim to have all the answers. We are simply healing professionals who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza. Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets.

President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: end this madness now!

Sincerely,
(signed by 99 American physicians and nurses) 

Note:  urge the Biden-Harris administration to  meet with American healthcare professionals who've seen the carnage in Gaza: