In the weeks since Israel launched its offensive against Hamas, one doctor’s reports from Gaza’s hospitals have proved more valuable to the media than any other: those delivered by Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon. Indeed, when Abu-Sittah held a press conference in London this week after a 43-day stint in Gaza, almost every leading outlet turned up.
Israel, he told them, was deliberately targeting children with banned weapons: “The primary target of the bombing was people’s residential homes,” he claimed at one point, the footage of which was later uploaded to The Guardian’s website. “And we started seeing phosphorus burns. By day four or five, half of my operating list, which was around 10 to 12 cases every day… were children. At one night in al-Ahli hospital, I performed amputations on six children.”
Describing him as “softly-spoken”, a Sky News correspondent repeated his claim that a rocket which hit the al-Ahli was not fired by Palestinian terrorists, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. “There was no smell of fuel,” Abu-Sittah was quoted as saying. “You’d think that a missile that was destined for Tel Aviv would be full of fuel.” The channel also repeated the doctor’s insistence that al-Shifa — another of the hospitals where he worked — was not a Hamas command centre, a claim which contradicts recent Israeli findings. “At no stage did I see any [Hamas terrorists] — at no stage did I see even armed policemen — at Shifa hospital.”
The BBC, meanwhile, conducted its own interview with Abu-Sittah after the press conference, in which he outlined the “overwhelming sense of guilt” he felt towards “the patients that still need my help”. The exclusive interview came days after one of the broadcaster’s reporters — Sanaa Khouri, a Beirut-based religious affairs correspondent — tweeted of him: “One might say, ‘Give this hero a Nobel Prize,’ but nah, his name is much bigger and more iconic than any prize now. God bless you, Dr Ghassan. Thanks for showing us there is still good out in this monstrous world.”
Elsewhere, The Telegraph’s report highlighted that, “throughout his time in Gaza, Prof Abu-Sittah provided regular updates to The Telegraph”, and described how he performed “six amputations in one night”. An interview with the Daily Mail a week after Hamas’s attack detailed how he “has been operating night and day ever since” his arrival on 9 October.
Amid the fog of war, such first-hand accounts are rare — and for good reason: they are extremely hard to verify. And on this front, it seems much of the UK media has not told the entirety of Dr Abu-Sittah’s story.
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SubscribeSurely even the most dim witted person would ask how the Hamas rockets are propelled when someone states “There was no smell of fuel… a missile that was destined for Tel Aviv would be full of fuel”? It’s pretty obvious a rocket engine isn’t a car engine.
Hamas make no secret of how their Qassam rockets are built. They use a mixture of sugar and potassium nitrate to fuel the Qassam. Sugar really is a killer. This fuel mix is called rocket candy. It is entirely odourless.
I kept hearing “There was no smell of fuel” on BBC Radio 4. I am still reading it weeks later. All without factualising exactly how Hamas fuels its rockets confirms journalism is dead.
Great comment. Thanks.
Yes, someone told the press that Hamas only use ANFO and so they are happy to ignore any other possible fuel types since they have blaming Israel for everything bad in the world to get on with
Yes, I heard that bandied about on the BBC. Given the internet exists, it has to be deliberate deception or plain stupidity by the BBC.
ANFO is an incredibly low sensitive explosive hence it is used in many industrial applications. It needs a large secondary explosive like TNT for it to detonate at all. For small on-impact detonation rockets like those made by Hamas, ANFO is totally unsuitable.
Not a large high explosive. Just basically a fuse.
Yes, about the size of a cigarette if I remember correctly.
As someone with a little knowledge of out national broadcaster I can tell you that any journalist who were to challenge the dominant narrative would not enjoy a successful career there. The licence fee needs to be shared amongst a range of organisations, not given entirely to the mouthpiece of the Oxbridge Mafia.
Please write to your MP. Edit the default letter and add your own examples, if you can.
More than 1,000 people emailed their MP yesterday as part of our new email campaign, jointly with Camera UK, to ask MPs to call for an independent inquiry into BBC anti-Israel bias. Please use this link to send an email to your MP today, and ask your friends and family to do the same: https://tinyurl.com/2eycx6cv
Done.
Done.
A most useful link, thank you indeed.
Journalism today is just twitter regurgitated. And Twitter is where reality goes to die.
It depends on what the source is.
I find amazing information on X… far better than a lot of mainstream media.
Fully agree with you and Kat L.
One can find a lot of reliable information on Twitter – the kind that can hardly be found in MSM. It is just necessary to be discerning and to know which sources to trust.
This is why some time ago I trampled over myself (i.e., my distaste for social media) and signed up to Twitter when they made it impossible to read the content without being registered. Have never regretted it since.
It was clear in 2000 how the digitalisation of data(content, Information) would disintermediate the existing…er…media.
I think the vast bulk of media managements just did not see this coming early enough. Any that did realised it was both impossible to predict where it would all lead and impossible to stop, so better to just keep making a living amongst the ruins for as long as possible.
TV and TV News journalists used to act as if it thought this would only destroy newspapers, but they don’t think like that now.
X – have you ever accessed data there? There are many excellent posts and podcasts.
How is this Palestinian-Egyptian doctor not colonizing the UK? Why doesn’t he live in his beloved Middle East?
Hi is usual example of camel riding, goat f**king ragheads populating Middle East.
Why uk needs any of them is a mystery to me.
Great post.
But bbc and other MSM don’t care about investigating anything anymore.
They “know” right away which is the guilty party, based on their moronic, lefty, woke world view.
Till we start removing clear terrorist supporters like Shittah from uk and dealing with their enablers in MSM, civil service and government, nothing will ever change.
Not quite… you just did some.
Spot on
Seems to me that people in the media tend to give doctors greater credence than others.
It’s surely so obvious as to be laughable, but they should be given no greater or lesser credence than anyone else. When dealing with them as an individual patient or relative, one should naturally expect professional probity, but even that’s not a given as we see with those involved in the “care” of youngsters with a gender identity crisis, as well as plenty of other medical scandals.
Outside of their professional boundaries, they’ve got as many flaws as the rest of us; perhaps more so given their tendency to egotism. Not all doctors, of course, but in the instance where there’s a political agenda, i’d as soon believe the doctor’s pet dog.
In this secular country the NHS has become a religion and its practitioners its high priests who the rest of us, true-believers or otherwise, are not invited to question at all.
But even back in the Middle Ages, the Church didn’t let its priests go on strike!
I think you’ll find they are more shaman or tokolosh than priest – there is no catechism or holy text behind these creeps – just the worst aspects of human instinct
Glad he’s not my Doctor.
Having been married to a doctor I can say that when someone heard he was one their whole demeanor changed. They almost bowed before him. Doors opened on all levels of society, most things became available. They’re looked on as gods and have an absurd amount of power.
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it. My daughter’s a doctor (Paediatric Registrar) but she keeps it quiet outside the confines of her hospital, for the very reason you refer to.
Both you and Clare can not be serious?
No one with half a brain believes what doctors say without further research and getting second opinion?
Never mind treating them like gods.
Especially after medical profession being instrumental in covid hysteria and administration of unproven and harmful covid jabs.
You totally missed the point! I said it was absurd that doctors are deferred to in society by just having the title. Getting a seat in a restaurant, getting a rental without having references checked. Steve Murray said his daughter doesn’t use her title outside of the hospital where she works, because she doesn’t want to be deferred to. People project superiority onto doctors when they meet them, as they would to a celebrity. Some doctors take advantage of that, others don’t.
You missed the point. We’re not saying doctors deserve to be treated like gods or even want to be, though some may like the reverence. On the contrary, we’re saying that people project a superiority onto doctors that they neither have nor deserve, and in most cases don’t want.
Your point was clear enough to me.
TBH the ones like your hubby and Andrew F’s daughter should earn brownie points at promotion time for having the views they do have on this aspect of the profession.
The ones that enjoy it a little bit too much should probably be sacked…instantly.
Trouble with shaman is they are only as good as their last spell, and if that spell was di-hydro-codeine – fentanyl etc then be careful cos the mob might not show the kindness/worship that the media serfs were so happy to
No-one reporting from inside Gaza should be trusted. If they did not follow the Hamas narrative they wouldn’t be allowed to operate there. This is probably why Jeremy Bowen’s reports have been so laughably unbelievable for so long: ‘The guns and rockets were for hospital security’ my @rse.
As William Burroughs wisely explained -“Doctors are so exclusively nourished on the myth of their own superiority that generally speaking, a factual approach is the worst approach possible” – paraphrased due to old memory but that’s the gist of it. And that goes for the BBC and anyone in the UK with a “PhD”
Good point.
No they can’t, but yes they will. Good article, but when it comes to exposing mainstream media bias and misrepresentation, it’s like trying to stop an express train with a fishing rod.
I totally agree with you Stephen. However, trains can be derailed. We are being backed into a corner and the time will soon come when we have been pushed too far.
And what will we do then? Take to the streets like the French? Make bombs? Or sit for longer in front of a computer saying how bad everything is?
Vote them out. Or rather, don’t vote them in.
I’m afraid voting isn’t going to get us out of this…
Sounds suspiciously like the regurgitation of a Hamas talking point.
I take it they must offer a lot of courses on how to recognize the smell of rocket fuel at the University of Glasgow medical school.
The rocket fuel used by Hamas is odourless.
The western media seem to have been played by every terror group going for years… mainly thanks to a vociferous cohort of people here, who howl down any attempts at scepticism because they are are reflexively anti-Britain, well, anti-West really.
They are very common across the media and charities, and increasingly the public sector.
It does seem a sea change is underway in our country, and other countries, and the ability to shame, hector and demonise into silence, any critics of their views across a number of issues, however moderate their questioning, is losing its power.
In Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, and now the Netherlands, (and elsewhere) as well as here, there is more and more pushback against an agenda that has been unquestioned for too long.
Whether ‘Gaza’, Mass migration, Trans rights impinging on women’s rights, Climate extremism, et al, public opinion is mobilising, you might say ‘wakening’, to the real threats to our societies which we have unwittingly nurtured.
Thanks for an interesting and informative article, Nicole Lambert. I do wonder why mainstream media are uninterested in facts, and use their investigative forces building an image of a hero on bullshit.
Is he a terrorist? Probably not. Is he impartual, in the Westetn sense? Highly unlikely. Have the MSM done their “due diligence”? Not a bit of it.
I sometimes wear a white coat, sometimes scrubs therefore my word is beyond reproach – especially when I’m in scrubs. Your unquestioning trust is my right for I am a doctor.
I never believed a word he said from the outset. And I have wondered how many Hamas terrorists wear scrubs as a matter of course.
You uncritically believe everything coming from the Israeli side though I’ll assume?
Well they are not a terrorist organisation just for starters…
They’re far more efficient than any terrorist organisation I’m aware of. Hamas could only dream of butchering the number of children the IDF has managed
Never assume.
The reason the Israelis are at such a huge disadvantage in this struggle is that they allow anyone to go there and report on what’s going on. Try sitting in Khan Yunis and criticising Hamas.
I completely trust the MSM.
To report on whatever supports their favoured narrative.
During the Covid Pandemic, there was hardly an honest doctor to be found. Not their fault, they were pressured beyond belief to toe the Government Line. But even so, they did not tell the truth.
Many did not know and did not have the time to do off MSM investigation like we were doing.
rubbish!
“He later told BBC Newsnight that his wife had been questioned about why he had travelled to the Palestinian territory and who paid for his ticket.”
Absolutely shocking questions (not)! More important, what were the answers?
Having read this article again, I question its headline. The doctor has no need or obligation to be impartial: he’s Palestinian and, whatever the rights and wrongs of the conflict, has bombs raining down around him. Whether the western media outlets should treat what he says as gospel is the issue, not the doctor’s probity or his ability to be an impartial witness. Ms Lampert, attack the real issue, not the man.
Wrong. He lives in the UK, not Palestine and he welcomed the October 7th atrocity. His entire morality and approach as a doctor is in question.
Should any doctor who is a Zionist also be barred from practicing medicine, as he may have an unfavourable view of Muslims from the Middle East?
I like the style of this article. Critical, but not inflammatory. Seems to me like a legitimate doctor doing legitimate treatments for people who also has political opinions that people can agree or disagree with.
My takeaways:
The doctor’s social media/political leanings are relevant to whether he is making biased statements that the media is picking up on
I was surprised that Human Rights Watch agrees that the hospital rocket explosion as a probable failed rocket launch (I would have appreciated a link to their stance on this, so here it is https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/26/gaza-findings-october-17-al-ahli-hospital-explosion)
I have a hard time worrying about whether this doctor is a villain. Any doc doing work in war zones is okay with me one at least 1 dimension. I don’t have to agree with politics to think it’s good that he’s doing surgery
The article walked up to the line of questioning his qualifications without going over it (in my opinion). I think discussing his registrations is fair game, because we want to make sure he’s a real doctor not some unqualified loon like I saw during the Pandemic
(after reading the guardian article) it seems like Abu-Sittah hasn’t provided a lot of information, just opinions on some things, and we’re flapping our fingers typing replies to a mostly meaningless article. Is it because his interviews have been a big deal (i try to not follow news in the moment because it is not helpful)
Shrug.
His views at one end of this war are every bit as relevant as all the hysterical Jewish voices endlessly invoking the holocaust. We should just take them all with a massive pinch of salt
Nice comment. I would argue that questioning his medical qualifications was over the line. If you don’t have a case to make in that regard, don’t mention it at all. He seems like a legit doctor to me, but clearly biased in his politics. I don’t even have an issue with the regime media using him as a source, as long as his bias is clearly noted in the interview.
I don’t think his medical qualifications were questioned, merely the slant he chose to put on his experience, like claiming to be director of a charity which, apparently, was not a (registered) charity. I think we, the public, are entitled to expect members of reputable professions (doctors, lawyers et al) to show some integrity in presenting themselves, and to rise above disingenuous self-promotion.
However, anyone making clearly untruthful assertions about hospitals, domestic residences and children being targeted, claiming untruthfully the use of Phosphorus and knowingly mis-describing the effect and intention of an explosion at a hospital is a villain.
Any doctor who is anti-Semitic should not be practicing. It should be emphasised that he supported October 7th atrocities.
How is this doctor going to continue to work in Gaza if he does not say what he has been told to say?
Hi is clearly supporter of terrorist organisation, as declared by government of UK.
Therfore, he should be deported.
There is no need for people like him in uk.
What is ‘controversial’ about the Right Of Return for Palestinians? The state of Israel states that ANY Jew ANYWHERE on the planet has the “RIGHT TO RETURN” to a place their ancestors may have had no link whatever to for many centuries. This is where the last real peace talks broke down because Israel was adamant that Palestinians who have lost their homes and property since 1948 have NO RIGHT EVER to come back. Ironically, of course, Jews who survived the Holocaust rightly demand the return of property land and wealth stolen from them. As usual Palestinians count for nothing. If 13,000 Jews had been killed in 7 weeks, 40% children, what would you be saying? Hama are vile and despicable, but Netanyahu is on undisputed record as wanting Hamas encouraged so he had an excuse for NEVER negotiating with the Palestinians. That worked out well didn’t it? Do you honestly think that Israel can carry on for the next 70 years as they have for the last?
This is regurgitating the usual twaddle. Firstly, a “Palestinian” means a Jew or an Arab from Palestine where they have BOTH lived for centuries. The recent 1960’s redefinition of “Palestinian” as “Arab-Palestinian” is a political move. As a “nation” it is a very artificial bit of terminology. As a people, Arab Palestinians have been despised by the Arab nations around them, especially Egypt, hence Hamas’ willingness to use the Palestinian as human shields & Jordan’s infamous ‘land-grab’ from them.
“Palestinians count for nothing”, you say. No, not to other Muslim nations, who have no use for them except for Jew-baiting with the gullible Western media, especially the BBC, Guardian, Metro etc.
When Arab-Palestinian land was colonised by Jordan & Egypt – & Jordan still retains theirs – where were these indignant protests to give “Palestinians” back their land? Jordan says “No!” & you just acquiesce. Whereas if Israel is attacked by all three of it’s neighbours with the intent of “ethnic cleansing” the Jews from the area & (amazingly!) Israel drives them back & ends up with land it did not have before, then Israel is supposed to just give it back, as if it was all just a misunderstanding! Why should it?
Israel protects it’s people with rockets, Gaza protects it’s rockets with people.
Consider; How much of the formation of Israel, historically, is due to the infamous pogroms against them, especially in nearby Arab nations who were later to sympathise with the Nazi cause?
Jews were driven out of Morocco, Egypt, the Yemen etc who had been present for centuries, (under the standard Islamic “Dhimmi” laws of oppression put against all Non-Muslims in Muslim territories). This antisemitism meant that many Jews were already moving into their own historical land (Judea) even before a worthy attempt was made to give the Jews an official homeland from the old Ottoman empire territory, which belonged, subsequently to the League of Nations, NOT to a “Palestine” nation, which simply did not exist.
Palestine was a mere district of the Ottoman empire, not a nation.
Many Jews, seeking refuge from the Arab nations’ violent persecution nearby, bought land from the Arab occupants, only to be rounded upon & hounded out by the Pogroms of the 1920’s when Jewish land was “colonised” by the same antisemitic Arabs nearby. If they re-occupy any of this land now, the Lefty-West call them “occupiers”…amazing.
Something like 30% of Israel is already Arab-Palestinian, where they can (& do) occupy high positions. So much for “no right ever to come back”!
Now try being a non-Muslim, or a Jew in Gaza!
Peace talks – all of them, decade after decade – broke down because EVERY time Israel said Yes to a two state solution & every time Arab-Palestinians ALWAYS said No. Why? Because Israel wants ONE land where they can live in peace & not be constantly under attack, but Islamist nations (of which there are approx 23!) will not allow ONE Jewish nation to exist. Not one.
Mohammed in the Quran & Hadiths made it very explicit what ought to be done to Jews. Hamas, in it’s charter, simply agrees, & is NOT interested in the “Palestinian” people, whom they despise, but in obliterating even Jewish babies.
As for your casualty figures; Ask yourself; WHOSE figures are they? Therefore, how reliable? How many casualties would there be if Gaza released the children, etc it has kidnapped? How many casualties are the result of Hamas/Isis etc rocket mis-fires, like the hospital car-park? How many are the result of Hamas preventing people from moving when Israel had given warnings of it’s intended targets? How many had Israel attempted to prevent by leafleting, phoning, texting & even “dummy-bombs” sent in advance as a warning? ALL these have been attempted, all these Hamas deliberately thwarted.
The more civilians are killed the more Hamas has a propaganda victory – the Human shield is a win/win for them, since Israel looks bad. Whereas the more civilian casualties there are, the worse Israel looks, hence Israel’s attempts to evacuate hospitals etc even using it’s own doctors & soldiers.
A dead child, to Israel, is a tragedy, to Hamas it’s a POLICY.
Israel in 2005 moved out of Gaza & the immediate result was a bloody civil war. This was followed in Gaza (internally) by corruption, oppression, & civil right abuses & stamping out freedoms.
Arab-Palestinians had FREE water & electricity supplied by Israel, the very race they loathed & voted repeatedly to eradicate, actually kept them alive. But the Water pipes were dug up & used as rocket casings instead, of supplying the Arab-Palestinian people with their water. And Power, &United Nations money & medical supplies were siphoned of for Hamas’ use & nest-feathering for their posh houses whilst others suffered & to invest in the massive expense of the endless “Terror Tunnels” to launch attacks upon local Israelis. Next we have Oct 7th……
Gaza was not a “prison” (as often chanted) since, firstly, it has TWO borders. Who tries to keep a person prisoner whilst constantly leaving an open door? What absurdity!
Was Egypt keeping a prison? Why not shout at Egypt then? Why did even a Muslim nation not want the Gaza madness to get in? Because they found out what happened when they did…….
Secondly, Israel was increasingly relaxing it’s checks & restrictions on crossings from Gaza until Oct 7th. Now it turns out that was a mistake &, if anything, they should have ignored the winging West, & been far more restrictive than they were. The West is now, again, trying to tell Israel that it knows BEST. A kind of cultural imperialism?
Thirdly; Israel built border fences (like many nations have). So what? High & strong, yes, but that’s to keep out the hostility they saw permanently brandished against them from the other side of the fence & the constant rocket attacks which reaffirmed that! Now we can confidently say that the border was not too strong at all, it was simply not impregnable enough! It was a defence wall against lunacy & it proved not to be thick enough!
The greatest enemy of the Arab-Palestinian people is the Islamists, not the Israelis.
Hamas’ intention is to make Israel look as bad as it can do. If you are not on Hamas’ side, as you say you are not, then why are you taking their side so readily & regurgitating THEIR myths about “Palestine”?
I’m not convinced by your go at this doctor. I’m no fan of the trawling of people’s twitter accounts as proof positive of their world view. Sure they’re indicative, I’d like to see the context for those tweets & comments you’ve identified. Tweets can be made in haste & in anger – I’d treat the tweets & social media comments of israel & IDF supporters in that way too.
But forgive me if I treat your “recent Israeli findings” and “compelling evidence to the contrary” statements with scepticism. Israel have masses of previous when it comes to making things up.
What is all this talk about “impartiality” and “unbiased”? whoever writes about anything political is bound to speak from a particular perspective, culture, set of political values, socia background and personal history. Where are the impartial commentators on the long and bitter history of Jewish settlement, Zionism, Palestinian liberation. etc? Everyone has a pont of view, whether they admit it or not, and Unherd seemed to me about allowing different viewpoints to be expressed. What is clear to me is that a lot of people were wrong about the explosion at al-Ahli hospital. what is useful about Dr Hassan Abu Ghitta is that he was actually working in Gaza, and talked about the situation in hospitals that were being bmobed and the inccreaing humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Of course he has a poiint of view. He is Palestinian, and he was in the midst of the daily horror. It would be impossible for someone to report from such a situation without being affected by emotion, even if he is a doctor. In any case, what about the footage we have seen of daily life in those hospitals. Is that “partial”?
So The Law of Return applicable to Jewish people seems ok but the right of return for Palestians who fled their homeland during Israeli-Arab wars is called “controversial”. Double standard approach I’d say.
It’s war. Trust nobody on either side. If it cannot be corroborated with truly independent evidence, and forensic evidence is more trustworthy than personal anecdotes, or just seems illogical or iffy, don’t believe it.
If you cannot see the difference between the IDF (whatever their flaws) and a terrorist organisation, then your name is Martin.
The IDF have a long history of proven lies. The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is just one recent example. They also have a word for it: hasbara (information/propaganda). In this conflict their examples have been notorious; the discovery of an Arabic language calendar presented as a rosta of terrorists is just the most ridiculous
So a doctor whose father was forced from his home by the Israelis and who has spent a long time treating the victims of the IDFs bombing campaign isn’t a fan of Israel?
I’m shocked!
You have also ceased to shock.
I’ve no intention of trying to shock people. Just because I’m appalled by Israel’s conduct unlike most on here who seem to be if the opinion they should be allowed to kill as many civilians as they please doesn’t mean my comments are simply being contrarian
You seem to have very one sided (naive?) view of how wars are conducted.
Do you have a problem with UK and USA bombing German and Japanies cities in ww2?
Do you expect Israel to sacrifice many more soldiers to try to avoid civilian casualties when Hamas is using civilian population as human shields?
Yes,I have a problem with Dresden and the atomic bombings even though I’m Jewish. And the IDF actions in Gaza don’t represent me and many like me. Stop conflating criticism of Israeli government with antisemitism, please. It is the language and the tone of the criticism of what are undoubtedly human rights abuses that distinguishes one from the other. ~For one thing, this entire campaign is a propaganda gift for Hamas due to the unacceptable number of civilian (especially child) death. Secondly, I cannot believe that the leadership of Hamas haven’t absconded somewhere else to leave civilians to take the brunt.
Apparently, Hamas leaders have been living safely in Qatar for some time.
The article did not say the doctor’s family was ‘forced from their’ home; it states that they ‘left’ to go to Gaza. There are thousands of Arabs who live peacefully in Israel, engaging in its political bodies, its cultural institutions etc. sounds like his family made a decision not to do so.
25% of Israel, actually, over 2 million.
Agreed. See my comment above. He’s not the issue. It’s whether the media outlets should put him on a pedestal that’s the issue here.
Hardly a long time, but c 3 weeks. He was a plastic surgeon in the UK, it seems
It’s simply not true that everyone thinks the Al-Ahli hospital blast was the work of Hamas. Channel 4 news did an investigation Who was behind the Gaza hospital blast – visual investigation – Channel 4 https://www.channel4.com/news/who-was-behind-the-gaza-hospital-blast-visual-investigation which used work by Forensic Architecture. Questions about the ‘intercepted phone conversation’ that the IDF mysteriously found overnight (despite missing the massive build up to the October 7 horror) have been raised by many (unlikely accents, sophisticated cutting and splicing, added background) including Al Jazeera. It’s not at all surprising that this heroic doctor sympathises with Palestine given his Palestinian heritage. Nor is it surprising that many decent people from all backgrounds share his horror at the rate of child deaths which has been greater in this brief conflict than in all conflicts worldwide since 2019.
Practising taqiyyah? Westerners, too few of whom realise there exists a sanctioned practice of fibbing or dissembling in the service of his religion, nor how widespread among followers, naively fail to doubt his and others’ trustworthiness.
Also, people expect a doctor to be more likely to be truthful and honourable, so project that expectation onto him, and often fail to spot dissembling. Think what Harold Shipman got away with.
Once again my comment (submitted 3 hours ago) is still awaiting approval. Is there a reason?
A comment I made disappeared but that’s the first time it’s happened to me, that I know of.
I sometimes wonder if the so-called Palestinians (in fact they are displaced Arabs) are ever able to tell the truth or is lying second nature to them?
Great article.
Let’s just add one letter to his surname.
Him and his views are Shittah.
Question is why Shittah like him are allowed to infest this great country?
Clear him and other Hamas collaborators out.
Is Hamas officially declared terrorist organisation by British government?
So why do we tolerate terrorist supporters living in uk?
British-Palestinian surgeon @GhassanAbuSitt1 caught on camera tearfully eulogising founder of terror group x dot com/JakeWSimons/status/1730568827811893625?s=20
Like the gap in Matt Hancock’s ‘Ring’ pointed out by Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, sometimes what is left out is more revealing than what is left in. It is a subtheme of this article, but can apply to the other side too. It may be worthwhile reading the article in ‘+972’ and ‘Local call’, titled ‘A mass assassination factory’, written by Yuval Abraham, which claims quite plausibly that the IDF has a database of where all the inhabitants of Gaza live, and uses AI to select its targets, obtaining as a side output the number of expected civilian casualties. Such enhanced realpolitik should not be surprising. If the tools are there expect them to be used. It also does not alter the perception that Hamas is quite willing to sacrifice the lives or limbs of a small percentage of the Gaza population to achieve its ends or failing that just to make a point.
What a lot of toss. The IDF uses the phone guide to warn civilians to evacuate before attacking anything. Look into “roof-knocking”. The IDF is probably the most ethically minded army in the world, they have no other choice anyway. Whatever they do, they will be accused of genocide by useful idiots.
Great piece, but some editor at UnHerd fell badly short with the headline “Can the media trust this doctor in Gaza?” which seems almost to suggest the matter is up for debate.
The article firmly establishes that the doctor (who I’m sure is providing vital medical care) is a profoundly anti-Israeli source who cannot and must not be trusted.
Dr. Abu-Sittah is an intriguing figure… There are bound to be more questions than answers.
To be at the doctor’s feet because does meatball surgery, to be at the doctor’s throat because he wears a lab coat, are equally ill-advised. Just instances of the genetic fallacy. Much better to do as this writer does, and ask if the substance of his claims holds up.
Dr Abu-Sittah performed two operations on
my wife after her stroke. He was highly professional.
He is Palestinian and at huge risk to himself he has been saving lives in a war zone, where civilians have been killed at a faster rate than any recent conflict and amount to some 90% of all casualties in Gaza. I’d say that he is entitled to his political views – the rest of us don’t have to agree with them.
By all means challenge any poor or uncritical media standards in their coverage of him. This half-hearted attempted smear job is of an even lower standard. Attempts to discredit him don’t deal with the facts about the dreadful human cost of this war.
That’s a fair point. He’s Palestinian and entitled to really dislike the state of Israel. The issue is about BBC and Sky type outlets treating him as gospel, and part of that is because he’s a doctor and part is because he’s helping kids and civilians.
I have no doubt he’s a very good doctor. And he has the right to express his opinion, but the regime media need to note his support for Hamas in its interviews.
As for the 90% of deaths being civilian, where does this number ultimately come from? Even if it’s true, which I’m skeptical of, civilian death is what Hamas wants. Otherwise they would actually build bomb shelters.
For a little context read this article.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tasha-kheiriddin-africans-are-being-slaughtered-but-with-no-jews-to-blame-the-left-shrugs
The ratio I mentioned was based on media reports shortly before the start of the ceasefire quoting IDF sources of 1,000-2,000 Hamas killed and Hamas-run Health Ministry figures of total 14.500 killed. That’s a range of 86% – 93% civilians. Reports of up to 7,000 more under the rubble would raise the civilian rate.
I see that Reuters now quote a total of 15,500 killed and IDF sources estimating 5,000 Hamas killed, giving a significantly different ratio of 66% civilians.
I am sorry about your wife, and I am pleased that she received good treatment. However, with respect, that is not relevant to the matter under discussion.
You can be a competent doctor but still be a liar, or a philanderer, or a crook – or equally well be a pillar of the church, or a saint, or a paragon of moral virtue.
In this case, his comments on the political background to the state of affairs in Gaza are not validated by his professional competence, and are fair game to be fact-checked – and he seems to have come up short in some regards. Which is sad.
In fact psychopathy is well known to be represented in surgeons to some degree. Not saying that all surgeons are psycho, but…
https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/10.1308/rcsbull.2015.331
Thank you. I agree that his comments are fair game to be fact-checked. I don’t think that was the main focus of the original article, it was more of a hit job aimed at discrediting what he has said by discrediting his character.
I also agree that his treatment of my wife is not relevant to the issue, although it is obviously relevant to me personally, and to my (obviously incomplete and subjective) experience of his personal character, which was being questioned in the article.
I’ve responded separately to another comment about the numbers of civilians killed. Whatever the precise numbers, it seems clear that the rate of civilian deaths is unusually high.
I wouldn’t want this man operating on me – especially if I were a Jew. He is not simply pro Palestinian, he is pro Hamas terrorism of civilians.
With apologies for the cliche: He’s entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts. The key issue here is whether he’s telling the truth about what he saw (or didn’t see) and did in Gaza.
I agree. I see my original comment was initially posted and open for responses but at same point has been moderated as ‘Awaiting for approval.’ Not sure why.
In Britain? As a plastic surgeon, should he have twice operated on someone after a stroke, ie done brain surgery? Do tell us which hospital so we can avoid jt
Plastic surgery can sometimes correct partial facial paralysis after a stroke, as was the case with my wife. I hope you never need it.
A dreadful piece attempting to smear this doctor – who merely by working in a war zone with Medicins sans Frontiers demonstrates his intent to save lives. The rocket fuel testimony here is a distraction – and the implication that Dr Abu Sittah is a terrorist extremely defamatory. It’s as though if we can nail this guy for not being ‘impartial’ we might ignore the appalling war crimes being committed against innocent civilians- so many of them children – by Israel. He might even be exaggerating the number of amputations carried out on tiny bodies! How terrible! Oh, and Dr Abu Sittah campaigned for Palestinians’ right of return. What?!! And as if that’s not bad enough – he compared Netanyahu to Hitler! Unconscionable! Then he had the gall to suggest there was no Hamas Control and Command Centre under the Al Shifa hospital! Good Lord!
His views seem pretty standard for a Palestinian and justified by their circumstances. Apart from the al-Alhi hospital rocket incident this article contains classic smear tactics and actually indicate the writer’s own bias.