Time for the Lancet to speak up for the children of Gaza

Today the Lancet published my correspondence asking them when they are going to speak up about the genocide in Gaza. It demands an end to their silence, and asks if the absence of comment on Gaza reflects editorial priorities or politics.

I wrote this letter because of my exasperation and anger at the continued silence of the major public health, global health and medical journals - and their associated leadership - on this essential issue. To the best of my knowledge almost none of them have seriously attempted to grapple at an editorial level with the scale and monstrosity of what is happening in Gaza. There is almost no aspect of medical academia that does work unrelated to the crimes being committed there, and yet major organizations and journals have been conspicuously silent. This is important because academic associations hold influence in society, and in particular medical associations hold enormous sway. Doctors are held in very high regard and are able to make their voice heard with a clarity and gravitus that very few other organizations possess. When medical associations make statements, people listen. There is very little we as academics outside of Israel, the US or the UK can do to stop this genocide, but we can at least raise our voices within the forums where they might be heard, to register our opposition to this crime and to try to spur these organizations to employ the power they hold. The Lancet is the flagship global health journal, which prides itself on speaking out about the politics of global health, but it has been largely silent on the topic of Gaza, even as it announced a special commission on Health, Conflict, and Forced Displacement to be held this year. We should not allow its silence to stand, and should try where we can to pressure its editorial board into speaking out.

We can all raise our voices about this with our respective organizations. For example, the British Medical Association has huge influence in the UK, but since January of 2024 they have said nothing about the escalating violence in the Gaza strip - although they did see fit to publish a rapid response by the Israeli Medical Association defending the genocide. If you are a member, you should consider speaking up to push them to take action, though I doubt they will listen.

There are other disciplines in medicine and the broader health field where we can speak out, and try to push for a statement or a set of demands. For example, are you a pediatric doctor or nurse? Is your flagship journal speaking out on the mass murder of children? Write and ask them. Are you an orthopedic doctor or nurse? Could your flagship journal be publishing the work of Israeli MDs who amputated Palestinian prisoners' limbs in the notorious Sde Teiman prison? Write to your association's journal and demand that they publish no orthopedic research from Israel until those doctors responsible for these crimes are identified, disbarred and charged. Are you a nutritionist? What does your association have to say about the use of starvation as a weapon? Write and ask them to clarify their position on the deliberate starvation of children. If they don't have one, perhaps your letter will spur them to come up with one.

Almost no major medical, public health, nursing or global health journal has taken a stand on this issue. These associations have influence - they represent a powerful lobby of privileged people. Raise your voice within them to demand they raise their voice for humanity!