Koran

Dr Hassam Idris Abu Safiya,

paediatrician and neonatologist,

Director of Kamal Adnan Hospital,

Beit Lahia, Gaza, was kidnapped.

 

He was summoned by loud hailer. Someone –

a colleague perhaps – photographed him,

in his white coat, walking carefully

and decisively through rubble

towards an IDF Merkava tank.

 

Since then he has been imprisoned without charge;

savagely beaten; malnourished; denied

medication; and a change of clothes.

 

***

 

Will history judge these times as a

categorically defining moment?

The dichotomy, disjunction seems clear:

are you for humanity or hatred?

There are those who care, and those who do not;

those who try do something, anything,

to make a difference; and those who

trim, lie, exult. The Talmud tells us –

and the Koran echoes the sentiment –

‘Who saves one life saves all’.