On Blood Libels And The Canadian Medical Association
My letter of resignation from the association
Dear Canadian Medical Association Board,
For centuries, blood libels, the false allegations that Jews use the blood of non-Jewish children for ritual purposes have led to pogroms and the slaughter of Jews. The most well known blood libel is the accusation that Jews murder Christian babies to bake their blood into Passover matzah. Non literal blood libels alleging Jewish murder of innocents have abounded as well and the term is now extended regularly to all false accusations of Jewish led murder (for a short summary here’s the United States Holocaust Museum’s page on same).
On October 17th, a new blood libel was launched with the accusation that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza killing 500 Palestinians. With only the word of Hamas, an avowed genocidal terrorist organization who less than two weeks prior live streamed the murder, torture, and abduction of infants, children, and Holocaust survivors, and who put up road blocks to prevent innocent Gazans’ evacuations, the global news media ran with the unverified story.
Reaction was swift. Violent protests erupted in cities all over the world. Efforts at diplomacy were scuttled including a meeting that had been scheduled between President Biden and Jordan's King Abdullah, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Sissi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. At least 3 synagogues were attacked, with one being burned to the ground. And of course social media’s gasoline stoked the frenzied fires and gave people permission to feverishly recast Jews as the perpetrators instead of the victims.
When morning came, a different picture quickly emerged. The Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was intact. Though there was evidence of a fire and a small impact in its parking lot there was no rubble. OSINT analyses’ - plural - concluded that Israel had not bombed the hospital, but rather a portion of a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket launched at Israeli civilians had broken up and fallen into the hospital’s parking lot. Estimates put the dead at between 10 and 50 people. These analyses were quickly corroborated by the United States’ National Security Council and the UK’s Foreign Secretary’s own investigations while Israel released videos of the failed Islamic Jihad rocket’s launch and an audio recording of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists discussing the misfire and agreeing to lay blame on Israel.
It was only after all of the above that the Canadian Medical Association and its President Dr. Kathleen Ross decided to weigh in with statements explicitly calling what happened a devastating bombing of the Al-Ahli Hospital which in turn upholds only one narrative, the blood libel, as no one other than Israel has been accused of bombing the hospital and Hamas has no military ability or rationale to "bomb" their own hospital. They only have rockets.
Multiple Jewish physicians spoke up asking for corrections and clarity. Myself included.
In response the CMA’s President blocked me on Twitter.
The CMA’s tweet from yesterday afternoon at 3:10pm that upholds the blood libel launched by genocidal terrorists is still up while I’m writing this the next morning. No correctives have been issued. The only response I’ve seen is Dr. Ross utlizing a straw man to centre herself and suggest the legitimate and politely voiced concerns of Jewish physician members were threats against her for expressing grief and sympathy - a message from her that will further animus against Jewish members.
Clearly the CMA does not represent or support its Jewish members. Moreover, by blocking me on Twitter for expressing my concern explicitly the CMA does not support me and consequently I am requested that my membership in the CMA be cancelled and that a full refund for my 2023-2024 dues be processed immediately.
Sincerely,
Yoni Freedhoff
(Letter sent to CMA Board Chair Suzanne Strasberg, CEO Tim Smith, and VP of communications Luce Lavoie (all reachable at firstname.lastname@CMA.ca)