CORRESPONDENCE

'A jaw for a tooth' – a biased report

N T Ospovat

Suite 1504, Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital, 181 Longmarket Street, Cape Town, drno@ospovat.za.net

To the Editor: I take the strongest exception to your unashamed political diatribe against Israel.¹

The SAMJ is NOT a forum for political articles masquerading under the guise of humanitarian medical concern. You could have found more truthful and pertinent examples closer to home.

However, I note that you adopted statements from Jimmy Carter and Larry King as definitive comment regarding Israel's culpability. You also use extreme leftist group opinion in Israel to support your argument. Your report is unbalanced and one-sided, totally lacking factual information on what took place on the ground, and has nothing to do with the practice of medicine. You are clearly unaware of all the many serious cases of Arab children and adults from Gaza who receive First-World medical treatment (free) in Israeli hospitals. You are also unaware of the published facts regarding the so-called 'civilian' casualties in Gaza, which WOULD give a very different slant to your one-sided Israel-bashing exercise. I suggest you do more research and get your facts straight.

I feel very strongly that you have stepped outside your bounds as a medical journal editor, and a written apology in the SAMJ would be appropriate.

1. Ncayiyana DJ. A jaw for a tooth – the human rights cost of the Gaza invasion. S Afr Med J 2009, 99: 125.        [ Links ]