anti-Israel bias at the Lancet
Excerpt from article in “HonestReporting”
The history of politicization of science for political ends is long, and sadly, destructive.the article continues with more particulars.
As HonestReporting has previously highlighted, formerly credible medical media outlets such as the British Medical Journal have drifted away from scientific exploration to scientific exploitation, particularly when concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The Lancet describes itself as “one of the world’s leading medical journals” and claims an online registration of some 1.8 million users. On July 2, 2010, it published the “best peer-reviewed abstracts” from a meeting of the 2nd Lancet-Palestinian Health Alliance Conference.
A cornerstone of most peer-reviewed journals is freedom from bias. No conference or article today can be promoted or published without a clear declaration of conflict of interest by its authors or promoters. No such declarations are published in The Lancet series.
A medical background is no guarantee of objectivity or lack of bias when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all, some of the Hamas leadership such as Mahmoud al-Zahar and the late Abdel Aziz Rantisi were medical professionals, while the Marxist Dr. Mads Gilbert pumped out propaganda from Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
Some research into the background of a number of contributors to The Lancet’s articles reveals some disturbing information and calls into question the credibility of the content, particularly as most of those below are active supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
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Weamm Hammoudeh: Testified at the US trial of her own brother, indicted for providing material support for a terrorist organization. The indictment included Hammoudeh’s Florida school where she studied, which was believed to be a front for supporting Islamic Jihad. While Hammoudeh’s brother was eventually acquitted, he and other members of the family were deported from the US after Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they believed that “Hammoudeh had ties to terrorists,” despite his acquittal.*
Rita Giacaman: The co-author of three of the featured articles has appeared on a panel with none other than Noam Chomsky, railing (somewhat ironically considering the contents of this communique) at the power of pro-Israel lobby groups silencing criticism of Israel in medical journals. (See video from 3.09 mins.)