“Israel’s genocidal campaign and occupation of Gaza must end”
Homilies & Addresses
“Because Israel is blocking medicines and medical supplies from entering Gaza, surgeons are performing amputations on children and caesareans on women without any anaesthetics or pain killers. Because Israel is blocking medicines and medical supplies from entering Gaza, Palestinian people are dying from treatable illnesses, both chronic and acute…As a pharmacist and as a Christian, I say not in my name,” said ACSQ Justice Unit Coordinator and pharmacist Peter Branjerdporn at a recent healthcare workers vigil
Readers are advised that this content may be distressing.
Thank you to Dr Yassmin Khadra, a Muslim Palestinian doctor, whose family is from Hebron and Jaffa, for inviting me to speak today. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Dr Yassmin and Dr Ahmad Abou-Sweid, a Muslim Palestinian whose family is from Hittin and Lubya, at inter-faith vigils for Gaza this year. My employer, the Anglican Church Southern Queensland, has been co-hosting the vigils.
As mentioned, I am a pharmacist and the Justice Unit coordinator for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland.
In 2012 I served on the Thai/Myanmar border as an AusAID volunteer training Muslim Rohingya refugee medics in pharmacy. Due to the armed conflict happening nearby, it was difficult for medicines and other medical supplies to reach us. I saw firsthand the major impacts this can have on the health outcomes on an already vulnerable people.
Due to Israel’s intentional food and medical aid blockade over the last year, it has been nearly impossible for medicines and other medical supplies to reach pharmacists and doctors in Gaza, many of whom have been killed in Israel’s intentional targeting of hospitals and many others abducted. As of September 20th, as reported by independent organisation Healthcare Workers Watch, 595 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza over the last year. This includes more than 50 pharmacists. The names of another 420 healthcare workers are currently being verified.
As of September 20th, as reported by the same organisation, 300 healthcare workers have been unlawfully detained in Gaza and the West Bank over the last year. This includes seven pharmacists. Some of these healthcare workers were killed by Israeli soldiers while they were detained, and other healthcare workers upon their release have shared about how they were tortured.
Because Israel is blocking medicines and medical supplies from entering Gaza, surgeons are performing amputations on children and caesareans on women without any anaesthetics or pain killers.
Because Israel is blocking medicines and medical supplies from entering Gaza, Palestinian people are dying from treatable illnesses, both chronic and acute.
Australian emergency physician Mohammed Mustafa was compelled to provide support as a medic in Gaza. Upon his return to Australia from Gaza, he told ABC News Breakfast this chilling story in August:
“I went into the emergency department, and it was chaotic. There were hundreds of people. People that have chronic diseases that haven’t been getting treated.
“There was a mass casualty event, so I rushed into the ‘resus’ room.
“They started bringing in bodies of children that had been hit by a drone strike in a playground. There were about 10 bodies of children on the floor.
“When the families bring them in, they bring them wrapped in blankets.
“I remember the first blanket that I opened up. It was a child with his head missing. And I remember just freezing for about 15 seconds.
“There were children on the floor bleeding out, and I had to pick which one I was going to focus my energy on.
“While I’m there, trying to resuscitate one child, I can see another child bleeding to death on the floor that I’m leaving to die.”
He then went on to explain:
“Just to put it into perspective for you, there was one thermometer for the entire Nasser hospital that I worked in.
“They have 1,500-odd presentations a day in the emergency department.
“We didn’t have any clean gauze to clean wounds with. There wasn’t even a sugar prick to test people’s sugar levels.
“We were getting diabetics in who were going into diabetic ketoacidosis, and we couldn’t manage them properly because we couldn’t even measure their sugar level.
“It was horrific.”
In July, The Lancet medical journal reported that more than 180,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza over the last year — this figure includes thousands of Palestinian men, women and children who have died because Israel is blocking their access to medicines as part of its genocidal campaign.
Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court, after a first round of hearings, found it was plausible that Israel violated rights guaranteed to Palestinians in Gaza under the Genocide Convention. Israel must comply with the International Criminal Court’s binding order to allow humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, through unimpeded.
In the last 24 hours, a UN commissioned report was released accusing Israel of deliberately killing, detaining and torturing Palestinian healthcare workers, of targeting their vehicles and of restricting permits for medical evacuations from Gaza. These actions amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This is all intentional. It is part of Israel’s genocidal campaign.
I think we all want to see civilians — wherever they are in the world — have the medicines and medical supplies they need to treat their illnesses and the illnesses of their family members.
I think we all want to see doctors and nurses — wherever they are serving in the world — being able to perform surgeries, like amputations and caesareans, with anaesthetics and pain killers.
I think we all want to see pharmacists — wherever they are in the world — being able to do their job and help make this happen.
In April, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese called for targeted sanctions and an arms embargo in her Anatomy of a Genocide report. She urged UN member states to enforce the prohibition of genocide in accordance with their non-negotiable obligations.
Six months later and the Australian government has failed to commit to targeted sanctions and a two-way arms embargo, while at the same time calling for a ceasefire. This is incongruent, making Australia both complicit and hypocritical.
As a pharmacist and as a Christian, I say not in my name.
I call upon all Australian healthcare workers and people of faith to contact their Federal Members of Parliament and urge for them to demand targeted sanctions and a two-way arms embargo immediately.
Israel’s genocidal campaign and occupation of Gaza must end.
Palestinian people, like all people, have the right to self-determination and to live in safety, peace and freedom.
On Friday 11 October 2024 outside the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, SEQ healthcare workers and wider community leaders gathered at a vigil for healthcare workers who have been killed or abducted in Gaza. Those who gathered included pharmacist and ACSQ Justice Unit coordinator Peter Branjerdporn (front, right), emergency medicine physician Dr Ahmad Abou-Sweid (front, third from left) and general physician Dr Yassmin Khadra (front, eighth from left) who have spoken at “Gathering in Prayer for Gaza” vigils this year
Editor’s note: Since Peter Branjerdporn delivered this address on Friday 11 October 2024 outside the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital at a vigil for healthcare workers who have been killed or abducted in Gaza, an Israeli strike targeting Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Gaza burned alive at least four Palestinians and injured dozens, many of them wounded patients. Just hours earlier, 18 people were killed and scores injured when an Israeli strike targeted a UN school-turned-shelter. The United Nations Secretary-General has condemned both atrocities.
Justice Unit note 28 October 2024: As Advent starts, join in a “Gathering to Pray for Gaza and all Palestinians” peace prayer vigil with the theme “Palestine: a Land with a People”. The inter-faith vigil is co-hosted by the Anglican Church Southern Queensland, the United Nations Association of Australia Queensland Branch and Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma, among others. See ACSQ Facebook and the anglican focus Events page for more information. This next inter-faith prayer vigil will be held between 6.45pm and 7.45pm on Saturday 30 November 2024 in Brisbane Square (at the top of Queen St). Thank you to the more than 80 recognised faith/community leaders who have helped lead “Praying for Gaza” inter-faith vigils in Brisbane since March.
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