CJPME Political Blog, Sept.28, 2016

The media rollout on August 4^th was flawless, and the news story was indeed sensational.  Israel claimed that millions of dollars of World Vision aid money in Gaza had been diverted to Hamas.  The supposed culprit was Mohammad El Halabi, Manager of World Vision’s Gaza operations.  All the major newswires carried the story, and Canadian media – including the National Post, Global News, and CTV News – joined the media wolf pack. 

CJPME Factsheet 54, published February, 2009: This factsheet looks at the World Medical Association (WMA), an international organization that determines the proper ethical conduct physicians should abide by at all times. The Israeli Medical Association (IMA) signed WMA’s Declaration of Tokyo in 1975, which prohibits the participation of physicians in interrogations and torture of any kind. Dr. Yoram Blachar, long-standing president of the IMA, was inaugurated as President of the World Medical Association (WMA) in 2008. Many have since called on Dr. Blachar to step down as head of the WMA, since doctors in Israel continue to play an integral role in the everyday running of Israeli interrogation suites that include cruel and inhumane treatment and humiliation amounting to torture.

CJPME Factsheet 38, published May 2008: The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment defines torture as any act which intentionally inflicts severe mental or physical pain on a victim for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession or for punishing the victim for conduct or suspected conduct. The UN convention was preceded by a long series of other conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 7), and conventions dealing with the laws of war, all of which strictly prohibit torture and other types of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment under any circumstances.