vendredi, 12 février, 2010
David Morris MRCP(UK) CSPQ
M9.05
Hôpital Royal Victoria Hospital
Montréal QC H3A 1A1
514-934-1934 Poste 34050
T/C 514-843-2838
david.morris@mcgill.ca

To the Editor,
The Times of London

Dear Sir,

My attention was recently drawn to the comments of Baroness Tonge concerning the motivation and behaviour of the Israeli Defence Force delegation to Haiti. I further note the response of the Leader of the Liberal-Democrat Party, Nicholas Clegg, who felt that her remarks were ‘stupid and wrong’, but not influenced by racism.

I am a physician of British origin and currently work in McGill University. I was invited with another Canadian physician to join the IDF mission with a team of Canadian nurses (none of whom were Jewish and many of whom were of Haitian background). This allowed us to see at first hand the true spirit of the unit. We were honoured to witness a team of dedicated, hardworking professionals provide medical and surgical care on a level which it would be hard to equal under much less difficult conditions. We worked in a field hospital equipped with full facilities – including a neonatal intensive care unit – and which gave kindness and gentle care to a population which had been devastated and traumatised by disaster. We functioned as a team in which every possible care was administered and each loss mourned. The idea that any of this activity occurred for any motivation than for help is simply defamatory and evil. I should add that the medical group included a full field hospital from the Colombian Navy – thus the operation wasmultinational – and totally humanitarian in its aims.

I find it impossible to believe that the comments by Baroness Tonge were merely ‘stupid andwrong’. They reveal to me a distortion in thinking which reflects a systematic hate of all that Israel does – even the good. This attitude continues the poison of the ‘blood libel’ from which Jews as a whole have suffered for centuries. These utterances render her inadmissible as a senior member of a party whose traditions are those of inclusion and balance. I would ask Mr.Clegg to reflect on this and consider the sort of image he wishes his party to portray.

Yours,

David Morris
Associate Professor of Medicine McGill University
Président de l’association des médecins endocrinologues du Québec