Hello everyone,
We can’t escape the suffering in the Middle East. I’ll leave it to others to assign blame. Instead, my hope today is to assert our residency’s principles.
First, as physicians, we are dedicated to the health and wellbeing of all people, regardless of ethnicity or religion. We must advocate for civilians trapped by violence. We believe all humans have the right to food, shelter, medicine, dignity, and safety.
Second, as members of a university community, we uphold free speech. We are discerning humans, able to distinguish hate speech from sincere expressions of concern, including expressions that make us uncomfortable. Senior faculty must nurture a safe learning climate, prioritizing open dialog and listening.
Third, as lifelong students, we must study the causes of conflict and sort through competing narratives and disputed facts. We must call out malign actors who distort reality for their own gain. We must bravely question our assumptions. A commitment to learning will bring us to a more peaceful future, however distant that future may seem today.
Fourth, we must support one another. Many members of our community are personally affected by the violence in the Middle East and worried about the security of friends and family. We are a diverse community. We care about everyone.
As a residency, we believe in honest inquiry, rigorous education, and universal compassion in the service of health, peace, and safety- here and everywhere.
With great pride and confidence in our community,
Mark
P.S. In the spirit of learning, I’d like to share a partial list of messages, podcasts, articles, videos, photos and books, which I’ve absorbed since October 7. The opinions expressed cover a range of viewpoints, all valuable.
A message from Dean Brown: -Our Humanity
Podcasts:
- 1948
- Israel is Giving Hamas What it Wants
- If Not This Then What Should Israel Do
- The Jewish Left is Trying to Hold Two Thoughts at Once
- Golan’s Story
- Voices from Gaza
Articles:
- My Message of Peace
- Offline: Israel–Gaza—what comes next?
- When It Comes to Israel, Who Decides What You Can and Can’t Say?
- Israel, Palestine, and the need for principled free speech
- On recent editor’s notes
- Nothing has Prepared Me for the Antisemitism I See on College Campuses Now
- How to Stay Sane in Brutalizing Times
- A War to End All Wars Between Israel and Palestine
- What Palestinians Really Think of Hamas
- What a Lonely Time to be a Jew in America
- The Discourse Is Toxic. Universities Can Help
- Why I Find Antisemitism to Be Especially Heinous and the Whitewashing of Dwayne Johnson Statue
- The Compass of Mourning
- A Record of Pure, Predatory Sadism
- Six of the Humans I Love Most in the World Are Hostages in Gaza. The Silence Is Suffocating.
- I’m a Pediatrician in Gaza. Please Save Us From This Horror
- I Fought for the I.D.F. in Gaza. It Made Me Fight for Peace.
- Israel Is Silencing Internal Critics
- ‘We Are Overpaying the Price for a Sin We Didn’t Commit’
- Don’t Equate Anti-Zionism With Anti-Semitism
- Why Jews Cannot Stop Shaking Right Now
- In the Cities of Killing
- What More Must the Children of Gaza Suffer?
- The Progressives Who Flunked the Hamas Test
- I Hope Someone Somewhere Is Being Kind to My Boy
- Your Moral Equation Must Have Human Beings on Both Sides
- The Suppression of Israel’s Critics Bolsters the Case for Free Speech
- The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education
- What It Takes to Choose Life Over Revenge
- In the Israeli-Palestinian debate, you might be wrong. So be humble.
Videos and Photographs:
- The Daily Show - We Need to Talk About Israel
- ‘I Knew He Was Looking for Me’: Video Shows How Oct. 7 Attack on Kibbutz Sufa Unfolded
- The Dreams of Gaza’s Kids, and the Nightmare They Are Living
- Conflict in Israel and Gaza, in Photos
Books:
- People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present
- A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy