Zionists Seek to Silence the Lancet and Secure the Dismissal of its Editor, Richard Horton
Response to the Complaint to Reed Elsevier, Publishers of the Lancet, by Professor Sir Mark Pepys and 395 Colleagues

http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2015/04/zionists-seek-to-silence-lancet-and.html
Date Written:  2015-04-25
Year Published:  2015
Resource Type:  Article

The involvement of 396 senior researchers in a mass effort to force Reed Elsevier to withdraw the letter is the latest in a series of heavy-handed interventions to stifle media coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue and should be resisted.

Abstract: 
In this public response to the smear campaign and personal attacks on Richard Horton, The Lancet Editor-in-Chief, Lancet Complaint to Reed Elsevier, we assert:-

1. Richard Horton is highly regarded as an exceptional leader in global health and as a campaigning Editor of The Lancet in the best traditions of the Journal.

2. Politics is intrinsic to many health issues and a legitimate subject for health commentary and debate, especially in the world’s leading global health journal. Controversy is an inevitable and healthy aspect of public discourse on political issues.

3. The “Open letter to the people of Gaza” addressed an important topical issue, the main points of which have been substantiated by subsequent, independent, reports of what happened in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, of which it is possible that some of the complainants are unaware.

4. To describe the Open letter as ”stereotypical extremist hate propaganda” is inaccurate and unhelpful hyperbole.

5. The Lancet provided equal coverage of views for and against the letter in subsequent published correspondence, reflecting the ratio of letters received by the Journal and allowing a healthy debate to take place.

6. The Lancet Ombudsman’s review of the issue was balanced and fair, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the letter and how the controversy was handled, for all to see. She was not persuaded that the letter should be retracted.

7. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is best placed to judge whether its Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines have been breached. A previous Chair of COPE has written that the Open letter should not be retracted.

8. The heavy-handed attempt to force The Lancet to withdraw the Open letter is the latest in a series of attempts to stifle media coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue and should be resisted.

9. In the light of reports by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and others, the “unfinished business” of Operation Protective Edge is to determine whether and by whom, from either side of the conflict, violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed.


WRITING GROUP:

Professor Graham Watt MD, FRCGP, FRSE, FMedSci, Professor of General Practice, University of Glasgow, UK
Sir Iain Chalmers DSc, FFPH, FRCP Edin, FRCP, FMedSci, Coordinator, James Lind Initiative, Oxford, UK
Professor Rita Giacaman PharmD, MPhil, Professor of Public Health, Birzeit University, occupied Palestinian territory
Professor Mads Gilbert MD, PhD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor John S Yudkin MD, FRCP, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University College London, UK
If you wish to communicate with the Writing Group please email HandsOffTheLancet@Gmail.Com

SUPPORTING SIGNATORIES:
Professor Emeritus Jarle Aarbakke MD, PhD, Former President (Rector) UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor Adel Afifi MD, MS, Professor Emeritus, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, USA
Professor Rima Afifi, PhD, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Professor Neil Arya MD, CCFP, FCFP, D Litt, Assistant Clinical Professor Family Medicine, McMaster University, Adjunct Professor Family Medicine Western University, Adjunct Professor Environment and Resources Studies University of Waterloo, Canada
Professor Rajaie Batniji MD, DPhil, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, USA
Professor Robert Beaglehole DSc, FRS(NZ), ONZM, Professor Emeritus, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Professor Espen Bjertness PhD, Head, Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Rolf Busund MD, PhD, Professor of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor Simon Capewell DSc, MD, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Liverpool, UK
Professor Phil Cotton MD, Professor of Learning and Teaching, University of Glasgow, UK
Professor George Davey Smith MD, DSc, FMedSci, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Bristol, UK
Professor John A Davis MD, FRCP, FRCPCH, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge, UK
Dr. James Deutsch, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada
Judith Deutsch MSW, Faculty, Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute, Former President Science for Peace (2008-2012), Canada.
Professor Abbas Elzein PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia
Sir Terence English KBE, FRCS, FRCP, Former President of the Royal College of Surgeons, President of the British Medical Association and Master of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, UK
Professor Gene Feder MD, FRCGP, Professor of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, UK
Professor Olav Helge Foerde MD, PhD, Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor Per Fugelli MD, Professor of Social Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
Dr. Miriam Garfinkle MD, Retired Community Physician, Independent Jewish Voices, Canada
Emilio Gianicolo, Researcher of the Italian National Research Council, Italy. Since September 2013, guest researcher at the University of Mainz, Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics in Mainz, Germany
Professor Gordon Guyatt PhD, Distinguished Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Medicine, McMaster University, Canada
Professor Rima Habib PhD, MPH, MOHS, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Professor Gudmund Hernes, Norwegian Business School, Oslo; Former Norwegian Minister of Education and Research (1990-95), and of Health (1995-97), Norway
Professor Dennis Hogan PhD, Robert E Turner Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Population Studies and Sociology, Brown University, USA
Professor Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen PhD, Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Anne Husebekk MD, PhD, Rector of UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor Tor Ingebrigtsen MD PhD, Hospital Chief Executive/CEO, The University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Dr. Lars Jerden MD, PhD, Center for Clinical Research Dalarna, Sweden
Professor Jak Jervell PhD, Professor Emeritus, Honorary President, International Diabetes Federation, Norway
Professor Ann Louise Kinmonth CBE, FMedSci, Emeritus Professor of General Practice, University of Cambridge, UK
Professor Rebecca Kay PhD, Professor of Russian Gender Studies; Co-convenor Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network GRAMNET, University of Glasgow, UK
Professor Debbie Lawlor FMedSci, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Bristol, UK
Professor Jennifer Leaning MD, SMH, FXB, Professor of Practice of Health and Human Rights, Director, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, USA
Professor Emeritus Georges Midrè PhD, Department of Sociology, Political Science and Community Planning, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Professor Alan Myers MD, MPH, FAAP, Professor of Paediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, USA
Professor Kaare Norum MS, PhD, Former president (Rector) University of Oslo, Former Dean of Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Iman Nuwayhid PhD, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Professor Kate O’Donnell PhD, Professor of Primary Care Research and Development, University of Glasgow, UK
Professor Ole Petter Ottersen MD, PhD, Rector of the University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Alison Phipps OBE, PHD, FRSE, Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies, University of Glasgow, UK. Co-Convener: Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network, UK
Professor Raija-Leena Punamaki PhD, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere, Finland
Reem A Qadir MSW, RSW, A social worker with extensive work experience in Individual and Family Therapy, Canada
Dr. Sara Roy PhD, Senior Research Scholar Associate, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, Boston, USA
Professor Harry Shannon PhD, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Canada
Professor Debbie Sharp PhD, FRCGP, Professor of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, UK
Dr. Angelo Stefanini MD, MPH, Scientific Director, Centre for International Health. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy
Professor Johanne Sundby PhD, MD, Department of Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
Dr. George Tawil MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC. Past president of the Medical Staff, Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia. Past Chair, Medical Affairs Council, Inova Health Systems, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Professor Paul Wallace FRCGP, FFPHM, Emeritus David Cohen Professor of Primary Care, University College London, UK
Professor Steinar Westin MD, PhD, Department of Public Health and General Practice, The Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
Professor Salim Yusuf DPhil, FRCPC, FRSC, OC, Professor of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada
Professor Huda Zurayk PhD, Professor and previous Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

15 April 2015


The names of the 240 additional scientists, clinicians and researchers who have co-signed this response since its publication can be viewed here.

Subject Headings

• Zionism