Israel bans Mads Gilbert, volunteer doctor, as 'security risk'


November 23, 2014
Sarah Benton

Sources as diverse as the International Business Times (1), Middle East Eye (2) and the BMJ (3) have, disbelievingly, covered this latest decision by Israel’s foreign ministry to keep unwanted eye-witnesses out of Gaza. More in Links and notes at end. Also petition to UK Foreign Secretary to press Israeli government to ‘Let Mads Gilbert back into Israel’.


Norwegian professor Dr. Mads Gilbert the head of department of emergency medical services in the University Hospital of North Norway tends a Palestinian child wounded in an Israeli army operation in the emergency area at the Al-Shifa hospital on January 8, 2009. Photo by Getty Images

Mads Gilbert, Norwegian Doctor, Barred From Entering Gaza By Israel

By Avaneesh Pandey, IB Times
November 15 2014

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor who is an outspoken critic of the Israeli military’s campaign in the Gaza Strip, has been permanently banned from entering the Palestinian enclave by Israeli authorities, according to media reports. Gilbert, who has reportedly treated patients in Gaza for over a decade, was also present in the region during the recently concluded 50-day war.

Gilbert reportedly said that in October, when he was attempting to return to Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing, he was denied entry by the military, which cited “security reasons” for the decision.

The 67-year-old doctor, who has done extensive volunteer work in hospitals across the Gaza Strip, suggested that his vocal criticism of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories could be the reason for his indefinite ban, according to media reports.

Gilbert, who has reportedly described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “state terrorism at the highest level” was also one of the co-signatories in a strongly-worded letter denouncing Israel, published in July in medical journal The Lancet.

“The truth on the ground is very inconvenient for Israel. Anyone who conveys that truth is unwanted,” he reportedly said. “This is not about me. This is about Israel denying the Palestinian people in Gaza international support… To deny professionals from the medical field the right to go to Gaza is another aspect of the collective punishment.”

A senior Israeli government official, however, said that the denial of entry was related to “security issues” and had nothing to do with Gilbert’s “anti-Israeli and antisemitic remarks,” according to media reports.

Gilbert also said that he would continue to call for the “long overdue” siege of Gaza to be lifted, according to an Al Jazeera report.

“The Israeli authorities are, in my opinion, in no position to deny the Palestinian people support from the international community,” he reportedly said. “I will not give up travelling to Gaza as long as they have medical needs.”

The Norwegian government said that it would challenge the ban, according to media reports.



Dr. Gilbert with the Finnish translation of his book, Eyewitness in Gaza

Israel denies banning Mads Gilbert from Gaza for life

Officials said Mads Gilbert is not being punished for his outspoken criticism of Israel but that it’s exclusively about ‘security considerations’

By Rori Donaghy, MEE
November 20, 2014

Israel denied on Mo nday that they have banned Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering Gaza for life, and claimed the decision had been taken solely on the basis of a “security consideration.”

Dr Gilbert – who has provided medical care to Palestinians in Gaza for over 15 years – responded to the comments by accusing Israel of attempting to repair the fallout over his ban and trying to hide the “facts on the ground” around humanitarian suffering in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Paul Hirschson told AFP that Gilbert “has been banned from entering Israel,” but denied he had been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip.

Gilbert, however, said he was specifically barred from Gaza on 1 October, explaining that he had travelled to the border crossing through Israeli territory.

“The Israeli official can’t be correct as I was standing at Erez [crossing] and denied entry to Gaza – to get there you have to travel through Israel,” he said. “I was scrutinised by Israeli security at the Allenby Bridge [the crossing between the West Bank and Jordan] and allowed to enter,” he told MEE.

Gilbert emphasised he had a host of necessary and valid travel documents when he was refused entry to Gaza.

The Norwegian doctor worked at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital during Israel’s recent 51-day assault on the Strip, which claimed the lives of over 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 73 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Entry to the Gaza Strip is only possible through the Erez crossing from Israel, or Rafah on the Egyptian border, which has been blocked by Cairo since a deadly suicide bombing in north Sinai last month.


English-language translation of updated book by Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse, published by Quartet in January 2013.

Israeli spokesperson Hirschson denied the ban was a punishment for Gilbert’s outspoken criticism of Israel’s occupation in Palestine.

“The decision is exclusively a result of a security consideration,” he said without explaining further. “It is not a punishment and therefore it has no time frame.”

“It is not forever as some have implied, but for as long as the security considerations which had led to it remain the same,” he added, without giving an indication how long the ban will remain in place.

Norwegian authorities have publicly opposed the decision and have said they are pushing Israel to reverse the ban.

Gilbert responded to Israel’s explanation for the ban by claiming that it is part of their ongoing blockade on Gaza, in place since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2006.

“They [Israel] are fiddling around with explanations and trying to get around the outcry this denial has caused,” he said.

“Israel is not only keeping 1.7 million Palestinians in a ghetto and bombing them with no escape, they are also denying all these people access to the international community – be it health and NGO workers or journalists.”

“The security threat to Israel is not Dr Gilbert but facts on the ground in Gaza and the ongoing atrocities being committed there. Anyone who has described the enormous human suffering in Gaza will be seen as a security threat to Israel because that is staining their image internationally.”

Gilbert is considering challenging the ban in Israeli courts and has said he will “not be stopped” in providing medical care to Palestinians in Gaza.

A UN Human Rights Council delegation was also refused entry to Gaza earlier this month, while attempting to investigate possible war crimes committed during the recent Israeli military assault on the enclave.

The Schabas commission – named after lead investigator Professor William Schabas – were refused entry to Israel after arriving in Jordan on 12 November.

Israel later announced they would not be co-operating with the UN inquiry, which they said was predestined to be “one-sided.”


Norwegian doctor who has worked in Gaza is refused entry to Israel

By Owen Dyer, BMJ
November 18, 2014

A well known Norwegian anaesthesiologist who has helped to treat wounded people in Gaza during several wars has been barred from returning to the state and from entering Israel.

Mads Gilbert, 67, has made repeated criticisms to international media about Israel’s blockade of Gaza and its military campaign. He was also one of 24 signatories of an “open letter for the people of Gaza” published in the Lancet this July, which was highly critical of Israel.1

Gilbert has worked as a visiting surgeon at Gaza’s main hospital, the Al-Shifa, during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09, Operation Pillar of Defence in 2012, and Operation Protective Edge in 2014. During the first conflict, in which Israel barred foreign media from the enclave, he was a major source of information on casualties for international news outlets.

After the recent conflict he returned to Norway, where he is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø. But on 14 November he told the television network Al Jazeera that he had attempted to re-enter Gaza through the Erez Crossing in October and had been turned away.

“I had a valid permit for multiple entries, an invitation from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and a recommendation from the director at my hospital,” he said. “To my great surprise, the Israeli army refused me entry. When I asked the reason, I was told it was a security matter.” He had asked for a fuller explanation, he said, but was told to leave the crossing or the police would be called.

The Israeli foreign ministry later said that Gilbert was excluded not from Gaza but from Israel itself. With Egypt’s Rafah terminal completely closed, however, there is currently no way to enter Gaza except through Israel. Israel also said that Gilbert was not banned for life, as some media initially reported, but indefinitely.

Paul Hirschson, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, called Gilbert a “Jekyll and Hyde figure” who used his medical role as a cover to attack Israel. Hirschson recalled a 2001 incident in which Gilbert had voiced qualified support for the 9/11 attacks, a statement that the surgeon later said he regretted.

Hirschson said that the ban “is not ‘forever’ as some have implied, but for as long as the security considerations which have led to it remain the same.” He said that Gilbert’s case was still being investigated and that the decision would be reviewed. Israel’s foreign ministry refused to elaborate on the nature of the security threat posed by Gilbert.

Gilbert told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Israel was trying to stifle criticism. “I am a medical doctor who speaks up about the conditions of the Palestinian people, which is my duty as a doctor. This is not about me; they don’t want the world to see what’s going on.

“If they feel threatened or attacked by the facts on the ground—the numbers of killed and injured civilians, the lack of water and supplies due to the siege, the bombing of hospitals and ambulances—then change that, don’t kill the messenger.”

Bård Glad Pedersen, state secretary of Norway’s foreign ministry, said in a written statement, “From the Norwegian perspective, we have raised Gilbert’s exclusion from Gaza and asked Israel to change their decision. The humanitarian situation is still difficult and there is a need for all health workers.”

References

Manduca P, Chalmers I, Summerfield D, Gilbert M, Ang S (on behalf of 24 signatories). An open letter for the people in Gaza. Lancet2014;384:397-8.

Links

Petition: Let Mads Gilbert back into Israel Click headline to sign petition. Campaign created by Tariq Ziyad, 38 degrees.

TO: THE RT HON PHILIP HAMMOND MP

Let Mads Gilbert Back Into Gaza

To appeal to the Israeli Government to lift their imposed life ban on Dr Mads Gilbert returning to Gaza

Why is this important?

Dr Gilbert worked tirelessly trying to save the children of Gaza during the recent bombing campaign by Israel, the Israeli government are attempting to silence him for speaking out about the atrocities that he witnessed first hand, Dr Gilbert carried out great humanitarian work in the most difficult of circumstances, banning from entering Gaza for like is tantamount to a kind of punishment and is certainly not the actions of a ‘democratic government’

“More Collective Punishment of Gaza”: Norwegian Dr. Denied Entrance to Gaza by Israelis, Juan Cole, Nov. 17th, 2014

!srael bans Norwegian doctor from Gaza
Mads Gilbert, renowned for treating civilians at Shifa hospital during bombardment, barred from territory indefinitely, Al Jazeera, Nov. 15th, 2014

Jordanian volunteer doctors denied entry to Gaza via Rafah, Jordan Times, July 2014

Israel announces it won’t co-operate with UN Gaza probe

Investigators stranded in Amman, after Foreign Ministry denies entry request; decision backed by Liberman, Netanyahu, Times of Israel, Nov. 14th, 2014

Schabas’s ‘Goldstone 2’ investigation team denied entry into Israel, Jewish Press, Nov. 13th, 2014

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