The Sick Man Bites the Doctor

on the execution of 15 unarmed Palestinian emergency responders by the Israeli Defense Forces (March 24, 2025)

 

“Israel has systematically targeted aid and emergency workers since the start of its war on Gaza killing…more than 400… Last week a group of

Palestine Red Crescent Society civil defense and UN staff rushed to the site of Israeli air strikes to rescue wounded Palestinians in southern Gaza.

Only one returned”

Joe Gill | MEE Opinion – [2:13 – 2:32] – April 4, 2025

 

1

Welcome now,

to your lawless-new-world

(this one here already bought and sold)

where the well-fed financiers live forever

and the sick man bites the doctors as

they pass his bed on their endless way

to the ward of the weary-war-wounded.

 

“This is the law of the jungle.” [2:01] , i hear

 

for even the forcibly-displaced dogs

in this sad new-world

have buried their heads in shame,

 

these bone-bare-starving ones

feeding on the dead body

of Gaza and

the bloodcurdling symphony

of the bombs

 

that light up their wish

never ever to be born human

in such an inhuman world.

 

2

In a world such as this

here is only another story torn

from the half-read pages of a newspaper

already used to bury the body of the babies

(“babies starved and froze to death”)

 

babies, the murderers killed

(“silence[d] and destroy[ed]“)

their amputated limbs falling

like confetti

over this powerful masquerade

 

3

 Listen!

“The post-World-War-II masquerade is truly over.” (Joe Gill)

 

4

Nothing will ever be loud enough now

to silence the dying screams

i still hear

in my useless sleep.

 

But, perhaps,

brothers and sisters,

it is a beginning…

 

here among the hungry dogs

and the rabid ministers and soldiers

waving their fearful flags, their well-rehearsed-‘agony’,

their careless and absurd anesthesia

 

it is a beginning that

someone somewhere

even in a remote hut

on the outskirts

of humanity

 

has said NO

to this wretched catastrophe of the violent,

to the dull despair of uncountable witnesses

to the desperation of those-about-to-be-dammed?

 

5

Once, we lived in a land filled

with illusions.

Then the hospitals all fell to the ground

and all the doctors were arrested and beaten

in the Hebrew Jails.

 

Now each day you must be careful

lest the patient, your very best friend

calls you mad for your tears

and the heartbreak that makes these

criminals speak with words

 

“fine sounding empty words” (Joe Gill)

 

not these sudden-silenced-words here

the executed ones

“forgive me Mom

i just wanted to help people

i wanted to save lives.” (Rifaat Radwan)

the exterminated ones

the ones they simply bulldozed

and buried in the sand

now raising themselves

like a miracle from the dead…

 

“I forgive you, son,” Ghalia Radwan

 

…but instead

their-always-already-dead-words

that even the dogs know

were buried many many years ago

but their loud-mouthed ghosts now

wish to live again

 

wish to build

another

savage Empire.

 

 

séamas carraher

april, 2025

https://seamascarraher.blogspot.com/

 

Image

Palestinian dead

Al Jazeera text – Bluesky (13^th April)

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it has been informed by the Red Cross that Assad Al-Nsasrah, its medic who has been missing since an Israeli attack on Rafah last month that killed 15 aid workers, is being held by Israel.

 

Alternative Quote

“Yet they did not obey or incline their ears, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward” (Jeremiah: 7:24, nrsv – taken from: Richard Rohr “The Tears of Things”)

 

Quotes (in italics)

By Joe Gill – journalist and editor at Middle East Eye – April 4, 2025

Palestinians are betrayed in world ruled by outlaws | Joe Gill

“In this opinion video, Joe Gill, journalist and editor at Middle East Eye, says it is increasingly difficult to be shocked after 18 months of Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza. Brazen crimes against humanity, he argues, have become the norm. World powers remain silent or issue weak statements, while the United States has fully aligned itself with Israel’s campaign of starvation and forced displacement against two million Palestinians.”

 

Reference (& “transcript”)

 

Palestinians are betrayed in world ruled by outlaws | Joe Gill | MEE Opinion

Middle East Eye – April, 4 2025

“Israeli forces committed a heinous deliberate massacre that left eight PRCS members, six members of [the] Gaza Civil Defense and one UN agency employee dead… A week later the bodies of these first responders were found in Rafah, southern Gaza. The vehicles were mangled and the bodies dumped in a mass grave. Some were mutilated… one decapitated. The Palestinian Health Ministry said some of the bodies were found with their hands tied and with wounds to their heads and chests… This grave was located just meters from the vehicles indicating the occupation forces removed the victims from the vehicles executed them and then

discarded their bodies in a pit…”  Middle East Eye Report [2:34 – 3:10]

 

“The truth is nothing happened following previous lethal attacks such as the killing of seven World Central Kitchen staff on 1st of April 2024 exactly one year ago when the victims were British, Polish, Australian, Palestinian and a Canadian American.”  Middle East Eye Report [3:33 – 3:46]

 

‘All crews are civilians’: Sole survivor of Red Crescent massacre rejects Israeli claims

“’Fifteen humanitarian workers, including eight paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, went missing on 23 March after responding to a distress call from civilians being attacked by Israeli forces. The bodies were found last weekend in a mass grave. Each had been shot around 20 times, according to Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza. At least one had their legs bound, another was decapitated and a third was found topless, he added.’”

Middle East Eye – April 5, 2025

 

“Forgive me, Mam, I just wanted to help people…”

“…the paramedic who’s filming says his last prayers… Rifaat Radwan was one of 15 killed… his phone was found with his body and he recorded the whole event… his last words before being shot “forgive me Mom i just wanted to help people i wanted to save lives.”  The footage only emerged when teams could safely reach this site 7 days later… the bodies were buried along with the vehicles [1:19 – 1:56]

BBC Video of Israeli Attack on Emergency Workers – April 6, 2025

A Gaza mother’s agony for a son Israel killed

Al Jazeera – on Rifaat Radwan – April 14, 2025

 

Shorter report and image

New video shows Israeli soldiers shooting dead 15 emergency workers in Gaza | BBC News

BBC News – April 6, 2025

 

Human rights lawyer condemns Israeli killing of Gaza paramedics

“Practice – Accepted Practice in IDF? ” – Al Jazeera analysis – April 6, 2025

 

Update – 23 April, 2025: Despite IDF statement(s) excusing the murders: “In a video published yesterday, the agency documented what it said was evidence of execution, including official uniforms, vehicle markings, and attempts by Israeli forces to alter the victims’ identities and conceal their deaths.”

Middle East Eye – April 23, 2025

 

Update –  Calls for independent inquiry into killing of Gaza medics

City News (Canada) – April 22, 2025

 

Notes

“beaten in Hebrew jails”

Read the testimony of the one survivor of the massacre interviewed:

“’Suddenly, I heard people around me speaking Hebrew. Then, they opened the door and special forces came in. I recognized them from their uniforms,’ he recalled. ‘They dragged me out of the car and took me to the sand nearby. They tortured me and beat me.’”

Drop Site News – April 4, 2025

 

and the rabid ministers and soldiers

“We are fighting human animals...” Mojo – October 9, 2023

 

…”fine sounding empty words” (Joe Gill)

“Fine sounding empty words… The big powers and their allies are committed to the violent reordering of the map Palestine is to be forcibly absorbed into Israel with US backing…Russia has seized eastern Ukraine. Smaller nations can be attacked with impunity from Yemen to Lebanon to

Greenland…” [5:43-6:00]

Middle East Eye – April 4, 2025

 

…not these sudden-silenced-words here

the executed ones

the exterminated ones

the ones they simply bulldozed

and buried in the sand

“The footage was discovered on a cellphone of one of the victims.”

Israeli soldiers kill health workers: Video emerges of attack on Palestinian medical staff

Al Jazeera – April 5, 2025

 

but words that

even the dogs know

died many many years ago

“Zionism and American imperialism have rendered international law null and void… Everyone is allowed to do as they [wish] to anyone… The post world war II masquerade is truly over. Under the US Joe Biden administration Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US spokesperson Matt Miller…he of the smirks…would make performative statements about concern over the killing of Palestinians with the weapons they had supplied… Today under the Donald Trump administration even the mask of respect for the rituals of international diplomacy has been thrown aside…”  [1:28-1:58]) Joe Gill – Middle East Eye – April 4, 2025

 

…their-always-already-dead-words

The Israeli military has said “professional failures” led to the killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza last month.

“Tonight a spokeswoman for the Palestine Red Crescent rejected Israel’s findings – the report, she said, was full of lies. [2:51-2:54]

BBC News – April 20, 2025

 

but their wounds now / wish to live again  / wish to build  /another

savage Empire.

“Israel however never had time for international law It was the pioneer of the force is right doctrine That doctrine is now the dominant one and anyone standing up for human rights and peace is now the enemy of the state whether in Palestine, London or at Colombia University.”

 

“This is the lawless new world order of 2025.” [Joe Gill: 6:20 – 6:38]

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